
Class _EL4G>rL_ 



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COFYRIGHr DEPOSIT. 



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THE LIFE 



OF 



Jefferson Davis. 



Br FRANK H. ALFRIEND, 

Late Editor of The Southern Literary Messenger. 




CD CINCINNATI AND CHICAGO: 

CAXTON PUBLISHING HOUSE. 
PHILADELPHIA, RICHMOND, ATLANTA AND ST. LOUIS 

NATIONAL PUBLISHING CO. 

BALDWYN, MISS. : P. M. SAVERY & COMPANY. 
SAN FRANCISCO, CAL. : J. LAWS & CO. 

1868. 



Eiitered, according to Act o/ goagress, in tlie year 1807, by 
FRANK H. ALFRIEND, 

In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the United States, for the 
District of Virginia. 



PEEFACE. 



In offering this volume to the public, the occasion is embraced to avow, 
with unfeigned candor, a painful sense of the inadequate manner in which 
the design has been executed. Emboldened rather by his own earnest 
convictions, than by confidence in his capacity, the author has undertaken 
to contribute to American History, an extended narration of the more 
prominent incidents in the life of Jefferson Davis. Whatever may be 
the decision of the reader upon the merits of the performance, the author 
has the satisfaction arising fi-om a conscientious endeavor to subserve the 
ends of truth. In pursuit of the purpose to write facts only, to the aid of 
familiar acquaintance with many of the topics discussed, and to informa- 
tbn derived from the most accurate sources, has been brought laborious 
investigation of numerous interesting papers, which his avocation made 
accessible. It is therefore claimed that no statement is to be found in 
this volume, wliich is not generally conceded to be true, or which is not a 
conclusion amply justified by indisputable evidence. 

Nor is it to be fairly alleged that the work exhibits undue sectional bias. 
As a Soutlicrn man, who, in common with his countrymen of the South, 
was tiiught to believe the principles underlying the movement for Southern 
independence, the only possible basis of Republicanism, the author has 
regarded, as a worthy incentive, the desire to vindicate, as best he might, 
the motives and conduct of the South and its late leader. 

Disclaiming the purpose of promoting sectional bitterness, or of a whole- 
sale indictment of the Northern people, he deems it needless to dwell upon 
the obvious propriety of discrimination. Holding in utter abhorrence 
the authors of those outrages, wanton barbarities and petty persecutions, 

(iii) 



IV PEEFACE. 

of which her people were the victims, the South yet feels the respect of 
an honorable enemy for those distinguished soldiers, Buell, Hancock, 
McClellan and others, who served efficiently the cause in which they were 
employed, and still illustrated the practices of Christian warfare. To fitly 
charactei'ize the remorseless faction in antagonism to the sentiments of 
these honorable men, it is only necessary to recall the malice which assails 
a "lost cause" with every form of detraction, and aspires to crown a tri- 
umph of arms with the degradation and despair of a conquered people. 

In his especial solicitude for a favorable appreciation of his efforts, by 
his Southern countrymen, the author has striven to avoid affront to those 
considerations of delicacy which yet affect many incidents of the late w^ar. 
He has not sought to revive, unnecessarily, questions upon which Southern 
sentiment was divided, and has rarely assailed the motives or capacity of 
individuals in recognized antagonism to the policy of President Davis. 
Perhaps a different course would have imparted interest to his work, and 
have more clearly established the vindication of its subject. But besides 
being wholly repugnant to the tastes of the author, it would have been in 
marked conflict with the consistent aim of Mr. Davis' career, which was 
to heal, not to aggravate, the differences of the South. 

A large part of the labor, which would otherwise have devolved upon 
this enterprise, if adequately performed, had already been supplied by the 
writings of Professor Bledsoe. To the profound erudition and philosophi- 
cal genius of that eminent writer, as conspicuously {displayed in his work 
entitled, "Is Davis a Traitor?" the South may, with confidence, intrust 
its claims upon the esteem of posterity. 

The author heartily acknowledges the intelligent aid, and generous en- 
couragement, which he has received from his publishers. 

January, 1868. 



CONTENTS. 



INTRODUCTION. 

J (Page 13-19.) 
ATTRACTIONS OF THE LATE WAR TO POSTERITY — ilR. LIKCOLX's REMARK — DIS- 
ADVANTAGES OP MR. DAVIs' SITUATION — SUCCESS NOT SYNONYMOUS WITH 
MERIT ORIGIN OP THE INJUSTICE DONE MR. DAVIS REMARK OP MACAU- 
LAY — REMARK OF MR. GLADSTONE THE EFFECT THAT CONFEDERATE SUC- 
CESS WOULD HAVE HAD UPON THE FAME OF MR. DAVIS — POPULAR AFFECTION 
FOR HIM IN THE SOUTH — HIS VINDICATION ASSURED. 



CHAPTER I. 

(Page 20-a3.) 
BIRTH — EDUC.VTIONt-^AT WEST POINT — IN THE ARMY — RETIREMENT — POLITICAL 
TRAINING IN AMERIC.\---MRrDAVIS NOT EDUCATED FOR POLITICAL LIFE AFTER 
THE AMERICAN MODEL — BEGINS HIS POLITICAL CAREER BY A SPEECH AT THE 
MISSISSIPPI DEMOCRATIC CONVENTION — A GLANCE PROSPECTIVELY AT HIS 
FUTURE PARTY ASSOCIATION-S — HIS CONSISTENT ATTACHMENT TO STATE.s' 
RIGHTS PRINCIPLE.S — A SKETCH OF THE DEVELOPMENT OF TITE QUESTION OF 
states' RIGHTS — MR. CALHOUN NOT THE AUTHOR OF THAT PRINCIPLE — HIS 
VINDICATION FROM THE CHARGE OP DISUNION ISM — MR. DAVIS THE SUCCESSOR 
OF MR. CALHOUN AS THE STATES' RIGHTS LEADER. 



CHAPTER II. 

(Page 34-48.) 
RESULTS OF PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION IN 1844 ^JIR. DAVIS ELECTED TO CON- 
GRESS — HIS FIRST SESSION — PROMINENT MEMBERS OF THE HOUSE — DOUG- 
LAS, HUNTER, SEDDON, ETC. — DAVIs' RAPID ADVANCEMENT IN REPUTA- 
TION — RESOLUTIONS OFFERED BY HIM — SPEECHES ON THE OREGON EXCITE- 

(V) 



VI . CONTEXTS. 

BIENT, AND OX THE RESOLUTION OF THANKS TO GENERAL TAYLOR AND HIS 

ARMY NATIONAL SENTIMENTS EMBODIED IN THESE AND OTHER SPEECHES 

A CONTRAST IN THE JIATTKK OK PATRIOTISM MAS^VCHUSJEIIS_AKai-_MIS- 

SISSIPPI IN THE MEXICAN WAR — DEBATE WITH ANDREW JOHNSON JOHN 

QUINCY ADAMs' ESTIMATE OF JEFFERSON DAVIS. 



CHAPTER III. 

(Page 49-67.) 

THE NAME OF JEFFERSON DAVIS INSEPARABLE FROM THE HISTORY OF THE 

MEXICAN WAR HIS ESSENTIALLY MILITARY CHARACTER AND TASTES JOINS 

GENERAL TAYLOR's ARMY ON THE RIO GRANDE, AS COLONEL OF THE FAMOUS 
"MISSISSIPPI rifles" MONTEREY BUENA VISTA GENERAL TAYLOR's AC- 
COUNT OF DAVIs' CONDUCT DAVIs' REPORT OF THE ACTION NOVELTY AND 

ORIGINALITY OF HIS STRATEGY AT BUENA VISTA INTERESTING STATEMENT 

OF HON. CALEB GUSHING RETURN OF DAVIS TO THE UNITED STATES TRI- 
UMPHANT RECEPTION AT HOME PRESIDENT POLK TENDERS HIM A BRIGA- 

DIER's COMMISSION, WHICH HE DECLINES ON PRINCIPLE. 



CHAPTER IV. 

(Page 68-84.) 

MR. DAVIS IN THE UNITED STATES SENATE, FIRST BY EXECUTIVE APPOINTMENT, 
AND SUBSEQUENTLY" BY UNANIMOUS CHOICE OP THE LEGISLATURE OF HIS 
STATE — POPULAR ADMIRATION NOT LESS FOR HIS CIVIC TALENTS THAN HIS 

MILITARY SERVICES FEATURES OF HIS PUBLIC CAREER HIS CHARACTER 

AND CONDUCT AS A SENATOR AS AN ORATOR AND PARLIAJIENTARY LEADER 

HIS INTREPIDITY AN INCIDENT WITH HENRY CLAY' DAVIS THE LEADER 

OF THE states' RIGHTS PARTY IN CONGRESS — THE AGITATION OF 1850 

DAVIS OPPOSES THE COJIPROMISE FOLLY OF THE SOUTH IN ASSENTING TO 

THAT SETTLEMENT DAVIS NOT A DISUNIONIST IN 1850, NOR A REBEL IN 

1861 HIS CONCEPTION OP THE CHARACTER OF THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT 

LOGICAL ABSURDITY OF CLAy's POSITION EXPOSED BY DAVIS THE IDEAL 

UNION OF THE LATTER WHY HE OPPOSED THE COMPROMISE — THE NEW 

MEXICO BILL DAVIs' GROWING FAME AT THIS PERIOD — HIS FREQUENT EN- 
COUNTERS WITH CLAY, AND WARM FRIENDSHIP BETWEEN THEM SIGNAL 

TRIUMPH OP THE UNION SENTIMENT, AND ACQUIESCENCE OF THE SOUTH. 



CONTENTS. MI 

CHAPTER V. 

(Page 85-97.) 

OPPOSITION TO THE COMPROMISE IN SOUTH CAROLINA AND MISSISSIPPI — DAVIS 
A CANDIDATE FOR GOVERNOR — HIS DEFEAT REALLY A PERSONAL TRICJIPH — 
IN RETIREMENT, SUPPORTS GENERAL PIERCfi'S ELECTION DECLINES AN AP- 
POINTMENT IN PIERCe's cabinet, but SUBSEQUENTLY ACCEPTS SECRETARY- 
SHIP OP WAR REMARKABLE UNITY OF PIERCE's ADMINISTRATION, AND 

HIGH CHARACTER OF THE EXECUTIVE — DAVIS AS SECRETARY OF WAR KAN- 
SAS-NEBRASKA BILL AND THE EXCITEMENT WHICH FOLLOWED DAVIS AGAIN 

ELECTED TO THE SENATE — SPEECHES AT PASS CHRISTIAN AND OTHER POINTS 
WHILE ON HIS WAY TO WASHINGTON. 



CHAPTER yi. 

(Page 98-191.) 

RETURN OF MR. DAVIS TO THE SENATE — OPENING EVENTS OF MR. BUCHANAN's 

ADMINISTRATION — TRUE INTERPRETATION OF THE LEGISLATION OF 185-4 

SENATOR DOUGLAS THE INSTRUMENT OF DISORGANIZATION IN THE DEMO- 
CRATIC PARTY — HIS ANTECEDENTS AND CHARACTER — AN ACCOMPLISHED DEM- 
AGOGUE DAVIS AND DOUGLAS CONTRASTED — BOTH REPRESENTATIVES OF 

THEIR RESPECTIVE SECTIONS — DOUGLAS* AMBITION — HIS COUP DETAT, AND 

ITS RESULTS THE KANSAS QUESTION DOUGLAS TRIUMPHS OVER THE SOUTH 

AND THE UNITY OP THE DEMOCRATIC PARTY LOST — "SQUATTER SOVER- 
EIGNTY*' — PROPERLY CHARACTERIZED — DAVIS* COURSE IN THE KANSAS 
STRUGGLE — DEBATE WITH SENATOR FESSENDEN — PEN-AND-INK SKETCH OF 
MR. DAVIS AT THIS PERIOD — TRUE SIGNIFICANCE OF POLITICAL EVENTS TO 
THE SOUTH — SHE RIGHTLY INTERPRETS THEM — JIR. DAVIS* COURSE SUBSE- 
QUENT TO THE KANSAS IMBROGLIO HIS DEBATES WITH DOUGLAS TWO DIF- 
FERENT SCHOOLS OF PARLIAMENTARY SPEAKING DAVIS THE LEADER OF THE 

REGULAR DEMOCRACY IN THE THIRTY-SIXTH CONGRESS — HIS RESOLUTIONS — 
HIS CONSISTENCY — COURSE AS TO GENERAL LEGISLATION — VISITS THE NORTH 
— SPEAKS IN PORTLAND, BOSTON, NEW YORK, AND OTHER PLACES — REPLY TO 
AN INVITATION TO ATTEND THE WEBSTER BIRTH-DAY FESTIVAL — MR. SEW- 
ARd's ANNOUNCEMENT OF THE "IRREPRESSIBLE CONFLICT** MR. DAVIS BE- 
FORE MLSSISSIPPI DEMOCRATIC STATE CONVENTION PROGRESS OF DISUNION 

DISSOLUTION OF THE DEMOCRATIC PARTY — SPEECHES OF MR. DAVIS AT PORT- 
LAND AND IN SENATE. 



Vm CONTENTS 

CHAPTER VII. 

(Page 192-232.) 

ELECTION OF ABRAH.\iI LINCOLN — HISTORICAL IMPORTANCE OF THE EVENT — 
THE OBJECTS AIMED AT BY HISTORY AND BIOGRAPHY IDENTICAL IN THE DIS- 
CUSSION OF EVENTS OF THE LATE WAR — NORTHERN EVASION OF THE REAL 
QUESTION THE SOUTH DID NOT ATTEMPT REVOLUTION SECESSION A JUSTI- 
FIABLE RIGHT EXERCISED BY SOVEREIGN STATES BRIEF REVIEW OF THE 

QUESTION — WHAT THE FEDERALIST SAYS CHIEF-JUSTICE MARSHALL MR. 

MADISON COERCION NOT JUSTIFIED AT THE NORTH PREVIOUS TO THE LATE 

WAR REMARKS OF JOHN QUINCY ADAMS OP ABRAHAM LINCOLN OF HORACE 

GREELEY — SUCCESSFUL PERVERSION OF TRUTH BY THE NORTH — PROVOCATIONS 

TO SECESSION BY THE SOUTH AGGRESSIONS BY THE NORTH ITS PUNIC 

FAITH LOSS OP THE BALANCE OF POWER PATIENCE OF THE SOUTH 

REMARKS OF HON. C. C. CLAY WHAT THE ELECTION OF MR. LINCOLN 

MEANT — HIS ADMINISTRATIVE POLICY — REVELATIONS OF THE OBJECTS OF 

THE REPUBLICAN PARTY WENDELL PHILLIPS NO SECURITY FOR THE 

SOUTH IN THE UNION MEETING OF CONGRESS MR. DAVIs' ASSURANCE 

TO PRESIDENT BUCHANAN CONCILIATORY COURSE OF MR. DAVIS HIS CON- 
SISTENT DEVOTION TO THE UNION, AND EFFORTS TO SAVE IT FORESEES 

WAR AS THE RESULT OF SECESSION, AND URGES THE EXHAUSTION OF EVERY 

EXPEDIENT TO AVERT IT THE CRITTENDEN AMENDMENT HOPES OF ITS 

ADOPTION DAVIS WILLING TO ACCEPT IT IN SPITE OF ITS INJUSTICE TO 

THE SOUTH REPUBLICAN SENATORS DECLINE ALL CONCILIATORY MEASURES 

THE CLARKE AMENDMENT WHERE RESTS THE RESPONSIBILITY OF DIS- 
UNION ? STATEMENTS OF MESSRS. DOUGLAS AND COX SECESSION OF THE 

COTTON STATES A LETTER FROM JEFFERSON DAVIS TO R. B. RHETT, JR. 

MR. DAVIs' PAREWELL TO THE SENATE — HIS REASONS FOR WITHDRAWING — 
RETURNS TO MISSISSIPPI — MAJOR-GENERAL OF STATE FORCES — ORGANIZATION 
OF THE CONFEDERATE GOVERNMENT — MR. DAVIS PRESIDENT OF THE CON- 
FEDERATE STATES. 



CHAPTER VIII. 

(Page 233-265.) 

THE CONFEDERACY ESTABLISHED AND IN OPERATION — CALMNESS AND MODERA- 
TION OF THE SOUTH THE MONTGOMERY CONSTITUTION THE IMPROVEMENTS 

UPON THE FEDERAL INSTRUMENT — POPULAR DELIGHT AT THE SELECTION OF 
MR. DAVIS AS PRESIDENT — MOTIVES OF HIS ACCEPTANCE — HIS PREFERENCE 



CONTENTS. IX 

FOR THE AR>ri' — DATIS THE SYMBOL OF SOUTHERN CHARACTER AND HOPES — 

ON HIS WAY TO MONTGOMERY A CONTRAST INAUGURATION AND INAUGURAL 

ADDRESS — THE CONFEDERATE CABINET TOOMBS — AVALKER — MEMMINGER — 

BENJAMIN — MALLOBY — REAGAN — HISTORICAL POSITION OF PRESIDENT DAVIS 
— THE TWO POWERS — EXTREME DEMOCRACY OF THE NORTH — NOBLE IDEAL 

OF REPUBLICANISM CHERISHED BY THE SOUTH DAVIs' REPRESENTATIVE 

QUALITIES AND DISTINGUISHED SERVICES THE HISTORIC REPRESENTATIVE OF 

THE CONFEDERATE CAUSE EARLY HISTORY OF THE GOVERNMENT AT MONT- 
GOMERY CONFIDENCE IN PRESIDENT DAVIS UNLIMITED PRESIDENT DAVIs' 

ADMINISTRATIVE CAPACITY — HIS MILITARY ADMINISTRATION — THE CONFED- 
ERATE ARMY — WEST POINT — NEGOTIATIONS FOR SURRENDER OF FORTS SUM- 
TER AND PICKENS — MR. BUCHANAN' S PITIABLE POLICY THE ISSUE OP PEACE 

OR WAR PERFIDIOUS COURSE OP THE LINCOLN ADMINISTRATION MR. SE- 

WARD's DALLIANCE WITH THE CONFEDERATE COMMISSIONERS — HIS DECEP- 
TIONS — THE EXPEDITION TO PROVISION THE GARRISON OF SU.MTER REDUC- 
TION OF THE FORT — WAR — GUILT OF THE NORTH — ITS RESPONSIBILITY FOR 
THE WAR. 



CHAPTER IX. 

(Page 266-293.) 

EVENTS CONSEQUENT UPON THE BOMBARDMENT OP FORT SUMTER — JtR. LINCOLN 
BEGINS THE WAR BY USURPATION — THE BORDER STATES CONTINUED DU- 
PLICITY OF THE FEDER.U. GOVERNMENT VIRGINIA JOINS THE' COTTON 

STATES — AFFAIRS IN MARYLAND, MISSOURI, AND KENTUCKY — UNPROMISING 
PHASES OF THE SITUATION, AFFECTING THE PROSPECTS OP THE SOUTH — 
DIVISIONS IN SOUTHERN SENTIMENT — THE NORTHERN DEMOCRACY — PRESI- 
DENT DAVIs' ANTICIPATIONS REALIZED — HIS RESPONSE TO MR. LINCOLN'S 

PROCLAJIATION OF WAR PUBLIC ENTHUSIASM IN THE SOUTH PRESIDENT 

DAVIs' MESSAGE — VIRGINIA THE FLANDERS OF THE WAR — REMOVAL OF THE 
CONFEDERATE CAPITAL TO RICHMOND — POLICY OF THAT STEP CONSIDERED — 
POPULAR REGARD FOR MB. DAVIS IN VIRGINIA — ACTION OF THE VIRGINIAN 
AUTHORITIES — NORTH CAROLINA ; HER NOBLE CONDUCT, AND EFFICIENT AID 
TO THE CONFEDERACY — MILITARY PREPARATIONS IN VIRGINIA — GENERAL 
LEE — HIS SERVICES IN THE EARLY MONTHS OF THE WAR — MINOR ENG.\GE- 
MENTS — PREPARATIONS FOR THE GRE.\T STRUGGLE IN VIRGINIA — -VN IM- 
PORTANT HISTORICAL QUESTION — CHARGES AGAINST SIR. DAVIS CONSIDERED — 

HIS STATESMAN-LIKE PREVISION DID HE ANTICIPATE AND PROVIDE FOR 

WAR? — WHEN MR. DAVIS RESPONSIBILITY BEGAN — HIS ENERGETIC PREPAR- 
ATION — THE PREVAILING SENTI.MENT AT MONTGOMERY AS TO THE WAR — 
QUOTATIONS FRO.M GENERAL EARLY AND GENERAL VON MOLKTE. 



X CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER X. 

(Page 294-325.) 

CHARACTERISTICS OF THE WAR IN 1861 — THE TWO GOVERNMENTS MORE DI- 
RECTLY CONNECTED WITH RESULTS IN THE FIELD THAN AT SUBSEQUENT 

PERIODS MR. DAVIs' CONNECTION WITH THE MILITARY POLICY OF THE 

CONFEDERACY THE CONFEDERATE GOVERNMENT ADOPTS, IN THE MAIN, THE 

DEFENSIVE POLICY OF THE VIRGINIAN AUTHORITIES FEDERAL PREPARATIONS 

GENERAL SCOTT DEFENSIVE PLANS OF THE CONFEDERATES DISTRIBUTION 

OF THEIR FORCES THE CONFEDERATE CAMPAIGN OF 1861 JUSTIFIED DIS- 
TRIBUTION OF THE FEDERAL FORCES PROGRESS OF THE CAMPAIGN GENERALS 

PATTERSON AND JOHNSTON ^JUNCTION OF BEAUREGARD AND JOHNSTON 

MANASSAS — PRESIDENT DAVIS ON THE BATTLE-FIELD — HIS DISPATCH — HIS 
RETURN TO RICHMOND — A SPEECH NEVER PUBLISHED BEFORE — REFLECTIONS 

UPON THE RESULTS OF MANASSAS MR. DAVIS NOT RESPONSIBLE FOR THE 

ABSENCE OF PURSUIT — STONEWALL JACKSON's VIEWS DAVIS IN FAVOR OF 

PURSUIT OF THE FEDERALS MISREPRESENTATIONS MILITARY MOVEMENTS 

IN VARIOUS QUARTERS — THE "TRENT AFFAIR " — RESULTS OP THE FIRST 
YEAR OF THE WAR. 



CHAPTER XI. 

(Page 326-3UU.) 

PROSPECTS AT THE BEGINNING OF 1862 — EXTREME CONFIDENCE OF THE SOUTH — 
EXTRAVAGANT EXPECTATIONS — THE RICHMOND EXAMINER ON CONFEDERATE 

PROSPECTS WAR BETWEEN ENGLAND AND THE UNITED STATES PREDICTED 

THE BLOCKADE TO BE RAISED THE SOUTHERN CONFEDERACY DECREED BY 

HEAVEN RESULT OF THE BOASTFUL TONE OF THE SOUTHERN PRESS THE 

CONFEDERATE GOVERNMENT NOT RESPONSIBLE FOR THE DISASTERS OF 1862 — 
PRESIDENT DAVIS URGES PREPARATION FOR A LONG WAR — HIS WISE OPPOSI- 
TION TO SHORT ENLISTMENTS OF TROOPS — PREMONITIONS OP MISFORTUNES 

IN THE WEST THE CONFEDERATE FORCES IN KENTUCKY GENERAL ALBERT 

SIDNEY JOHNSTON HIS CAREER BEFORE THE WAR CHARACTER APPEAR- 
ANCE THE FRIEND OF JEFFERSON DAVIS ^MUTUAL ESTEEM SIDNEY JOHN- 
STON IN KENTUCKY — HIS PLANS — HIS DIFFICULTIES — THE FORCES OF GRANT 
AND BUELL — CRUEL DILEMMA OF GENERAL SIDNEY JOHNSTON — ^A REVERSE — 
GRANT CAPTURES FORTS HENRY AND DONELSON — LOSS OP KENTUCKY AND 
TENNESSEE FEDERAL DESIGNS IN THE EAST BURNSIDE CAPTURES ROAN- 
OKE ISLAND SERIOUS NATURE OF THESE REVERSES POPULAR DISAPPOINT- 
MENT ORGANIZED OPPOSITION TO THE CONFEDERATE ADMINISTRATION 

CHAR.-VCTER AND MOTIVES OF THIS OPPOSITION AN EFFORT TO REVOLUTIONIZE 



CONTEXTS. XI 

PRESIDENT DAVIs' CABINET — ASSAULTS UPON SECRETARIES BENJAMIN AND 
MALLOKY CORRECT EXPLANATION OF THE CONFEDERATE REVERSES CON- 
GRESSIONAL CENSURE OF MR. BENJAMIN SECRETARY MALLORY — CHARAC- 
TERISTICS OF THE SOUTHERN MIND — THE PERMANENT GOVERNMENT — SECOND 

INAUGURATION OF MR. DAVIS — SEVERITY OF THE SEASON — THE CEREMONIES 

APPEARANCE OP PRESIDENT DAVIS — HIS INAUGURAL ADDRESS ITS EFFECT 

POPULAR RE-ASSURANCE — MESSAGE TO CONGRESS — COMMENTS OF KICUMOXD 
PRESS. 



CHAPTER XII. 

(Page 3C1-389.) 

POPULAR DELUSIONS IN THE EARLY STAGES OF THE WAR — A FEAV CONFLICTS 
AND SACRIFICES NOT SUFFICIENT — MORE POSITIVE RECOGNITION OF .MR. DAVIs' 

VIEWS — HI.SC.VNDID AND PROPHETIC ANNOUNCEMENTS MILITARY REFOU.MS 

CONSCRIPTION LAW OF THE CONFEDERACY THE PRESIDENT'S VIEWS AND 

COURSE AS TO THIS LAW — HIS CONSISTENT REGARD FOR CIVIL LIBERTY AND 
OPPOSITION TO CENTRALIZATION — RECOMMENDS CONSCRIPTION — BENEFICIAL 
RESULTS OF THE LAW — GENERAL LEE COMMANDER-IN-CHIEF, " UNDER THE 
president" — NATURE OP THE APPOINTMENT FALSE IMPRESSIONS COR- 
RECTED — MR. DAVIs' CONFIDENCE IN LEE, DESPITE POPULAR CENSURE OF THE 

LATTER CHANGES IN THE CABINET MR. BENJ^V-AIINS MANAGEMENT OF THE 

WAR OFFICE — DIFFICULTIES OF THAT POSITION — THE CHARGE OF FAVORITISM 
AGAINST MR. DAVIS IN THE SELECTION OF HIS CABINET HIS PERSONAL RE- 
LATIONS WITH THE VARIOUS MEMBERS OP HIS CABINET — ACTIVITY IN MILI- 
TARY OPERATIONS — THE TRANS-MISSISSIPPI — BATTLE OF ELK HORN OPERA- 
TIONS EAST OF THE MISSISSIPPI GENERALS SIDNEY JOHNSTON AND BEAURE- 
GARD ISLAND NO. 10 — CONCENTRATION OF TROOPS BY THE CONFEDERATE 

AUTHORITIES — FAVORABLE SITUATION SHILOH A DISAPPOINTMENT DEATH 

OF SIDNEY JOHNSTON TRIBUTE OF PRESIDENT DAVI.S POPULAR VERDICT 

UPON THE B.\TTLE OF SHILOH — GENERALS BEAUREGARD, BRAGG, AND POLK 
ON THE BATTLE — THE PRESIDENT AGAIN CHARGED WITH "INJUSTICE" TO 
BEAUREGARD — THE CHARGE ANSWERED — FALL OP NEW ORLEANS — NAVAL 
BATTLE IN HAMPTON ROADS — NAVAL SUCCESSES OF THE ENEMY. 



CHAPTER XIII. 

(Page ;«0-I21.) 

THE "anaconda SYSTEM " — HOW FAR IT WAS SUCCESSFUL — TERRITORIAL CON- 
FIGURATION OP THE SOUTH FAVORABLE TO THE ENEMY — ONE THEATRE OF 
WAR FAVORABLE TO THE CONFEDERATES — THE FEDERAL FORCES IN VIRGINIA 



Xil CONTENTS. 

THE CONFEDERATE FORCES — THE POTOMAC LINES CRITICAL SITUATION IN 

VIRGINIA EVACUATION OF MANASSAS TRANSFER OF OPERATIONS TO THE 

PENINSULA MAGRUDER's LINES EVACUATION OF YORKTOWN STRENGTH 

OF THE OPPOSING FORCES BEFORE RICHMOND DESTRUCTION OF THE " VIR- 
GINIA" — PANIC IN RICHMOND — MR. DAVIs' CALMNESS AND CONFIDENCE — 
HE AVOWS HIMSELF " READY TO LEAVE HIS BONES IN THE CAPITAL OF THE 
confederacy" — REPULSE OF THE GUNBOATS "MEMENTOES OF HEROISM" 

Jackson's valley campaign — a series of victories, with important 

results battle op " seven pines " a failure general johnston 

wounded president davis on the field president davis and gen- 
eral johnston an attempt to forestall the decision of history — 

RESULTS OF LEe's ACCESSION TO COMMAND — JOHNSTOn's GENERALSHIP — 
MR. DAVIs' ESTIMATE OF LEE — LEe's PLANS — THE ADVISORY RELATION BE- 
TWEEN DAVIS AND LEE — THEIR MUTUAL CONFIDENCE NEVER INTERRUPTED — 

CONFEDERATE STRATEGY AFTER m'cLELLAN's DEFEAT BEFORE RICHMOND 

MAGICAL CHANGE IN THE FORTUNES OF THE CONFEDERACY THE INVASION 

OF MARYLAND ANTIETAM TANGIBLE PROOFS OF CONFEDERATE SUCCESS 

GENERAL BRAGG — HIS KENTUCKY CAMPAIGN CONFEDERATE HOPES BATTLE 

OF PERRYVILLE — BRAGG RETREATS — ESTIMATE OF THE KENTUCKY CAMPAIGN 
OF 1862 — OTHER INCIDENTS OP THE WESTERN CAMPAIGN — REMOVAL OF 
m'cLELLAN — A SOUTHERN OPINION OF m'cLELLAN — BATTLE OF FREDERICKS- 
BURG BATTLE OF MURFREESBORO' BATTLE OF PRAIRIE GROVE THE SITUA- 
TION AT THE CLOSE OF 18(32 PRESIDENT DAVIs' RECOMMENDATIONS TO 

CONGRESS — HIS VISIT TO THE SOUTH-WEST — ADDRESS BEFORE THE MISSISSIPPI 
LEGISLATURE. 



CHAPTER XIV. 

(Page 422-449.) 

RESPECT OF MANKIND FOR THE SOUTH — THE MOST PROSPEROUS PERIOD OF THE 
WAR — HOW MR. DAVIS CONTRIBUTED TO THE DISTINCTION OF THE SOUTH — 
FACTION SILENCED — THE EUROPEAN ESTIMATE OF JEFFERSON DAVIS — HOW 
HE DIGNIFIED THE CAUSE OF THE SOUTH — HIS STATE PAPERS — HIS ADMINIS- 
TRATION OF CIVIL MATTERS — THE CONTRAST BET\^^:EN THE TWO PRESIDENTS 
— MR. DAVIs' OBSERVANCE OF CONSTITUTIONAL RESTRAINTS — ARBITRARY AD- 
MINISTRATION OF MR. LINCOLN — MR. DAVIs' MODERATION — HE SEEKS TO CON- 
DUCT THE WAR UPON CIVILIZED IDEAS — AN ENGLISH CHARACTERIZATION OF 
DAVIS — COLONEL FREEMANTLe's INTERVIEW WITH HIM — MR. GLADSTONES 
OPINION — THE PURELY PERSONAL AND SENTIMENTAL ADMIRATION OF EUROPE 
FOR THE SOUTH — INCONSISTENT CONDUCT OF THE EUROPE.AN GREAT POWERS — 
THE LONDON "TIMES " BEFORE m'cLELLAN's DEFEAT — THE CONFEDERACY EN- 
TITLED TO RECOGNITION BY EUROPE ENGLAND'S SYMPATHY WITH THE NORTH 



CONTENTS. Xlll 

— DIGNIFIED ATTITCDE OF I'RKSIDENT DAVIS UPON THE SUBJECT OF RECOGNI- 
TION — HIS EARLY PREDICTION UPON THE SUBJECT — FRANCE AND ENGLAND 
EXPOSED TO INJURIOUS SUSPICIONS — TERGIVERSATIONS OF THE PALMERSTON 
CABINET THE BROAD FARCE OP "BRITISH NEUTRALITY" — ENGLAND DE- 
CLINES TO UNITE WITH FRANCE IN AN OFFER OF MEDIATION BETWEEN THE 
AMERICAN BELLIGERENTS— England's "policy" — SHE SOUGHT THE RUIN OF 
BOTH SECTIONS OF AMERICA — CULMINATION OF THE ANTISLAVERY POLICY OP 
THE NORTH — MR. LINCOLN'S CONVERSATION WITH A KENTUCKY MEMBER OF 
CONGRESS — THE WAR A " CRIME " BY MR. LINCOLN'S OWN SHOWING — VIOLA- 
TION OF PLEDGES AND ARBITRARY ACTS OF THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT — THE 
MASK REMOVED AFTER THE BATTLE OF ANTIETAM — THE REAL PURPOSE OF 
EMANCIPATION — MR. DAVIs' ALLUSION TO THE SUBJECT — INDIGNATION OF THE 
SOUTH AT THE MEASURE — MILITARY OPERATIONS IN TEXAS AND MISSISSIPPI — 

VICKSBURG PORT HUDSON — LOSS OF ARKANSAS POST — FEDERAL FLEET RE- 

PUL.SED AT CHARLESTON PREPARATIONS FOR THE CAMPAIGN — UNITY AND 

CONFIDENCE OF THE SOUTH MR. DAVIs' ADDRESS TO THE COUNTRY IMPOR- 
TANT EXTRACTS GENERAL LEE PREPARES FOR B.^TTLE HIS CONFIDENCE 

CONDITION OF HIS AR.MY — BATTLE OF CHANCELLORSVILLE JEFFERSON DAVIS' 

TRIBUTE TO STONEWALL JACKSON. 



CHAPTER XV. 

(Page 4.50-176.) 



CONFEDERATE PROSPECTS AFTER THE BATTLE OF CHANCELLORSVILLE — THE MIL- 
ITARY SITUATION PRI.MARY' OB.IECTS OF THE CONFEDERATES AFFAIRS IN 

THE WE.ST — A BRIEF CONSIDERATION OF SEVERAL PLANS OF CAMPAIGN SUG- 
GESTED TO THE CONFEDERATE AUTHORITIES — VISIONARY STRATEGY — AN OF- 
FENSIVE CAMPAIGN ADOPTED — THE INVASION OF PENNSYLVANIA JUSTIFIED — 
CONDITION OF THE ARMY OP NORTHERN VIRGINIA AT THIS PERIOD — THE 
MOVEMENT FROM THE RAPPAHANNOCK — LEADING FEATURES OF THE CONFED- 
ERATE PLAN lee's STRATEGY AGAIN ILLUSTRATED GETTYSBURG A FATAL 

BLOW TO THE SOUTH — LEE RETURNS TO VIRGINIA — THE SURRENDER OF VICKS- 
BURG OTHER REVERSES EXULTATION OF THE NORTH THE CONFEDER.VTE 

ADMINI.STRATION AGAIN ARRAIGNED BY ITS OPPONENTS — THE CASE OF GEN- 
ERAL PEJIBERTON — POPULAR INJUSTICE TO A GALLANT OFFICER — A BRIEF 
REVIEW OF THE SUBJECT — PEMBERTON's APPOINTMENT RECOMMENDED BY 

DISTINGUISHED OFFICERS HIS ABLE ADMINISTRATION IN MISSLSSIPPI HIS 

RE.SOLUTION TO HOLD VICKSBURG, AS THE GREAT END OF THE CAMPAIGN 

HIS GALLANTRY AND RE.SOURCE.S NOBLE CONDUCT OF THIS PERSECUTED OP 

PICER A FURTHER STATEMENT THE MISSION OF VICE-PRESIDENT STEPHENS 

—ITS OBJECTS — PRESIDENT DAVIS SEEKS TO ALLEVIATE THE SUFFERINGS OF 



XIV CONTENTS. 

WAR — MAGNANIMITY AND HUMANITY OF THE OFFER — PROUD POSITION IN 

THIS MATTER OF THE SOUTH AND HER RULER THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT 

DECLINES INTERCOURSE WITH MR. STEPHENS — EXPLANATION OF ITS MOTIVES 
CORRESPONDENCE BETWEEN MESSRS. DAVIS AND STEPHENS. 



CHAPTER XVI 

(Page 477-501.) 



OPERATIONS OF GENERAL TAYLOR IN LOUISIANA — THE MISSISSIPPI VALLEY IR- 
RECOVERABLY LOST TO THE CONFEDERACY FEDERALS FOILED AT CHARLES- 
TON THE DIMINISHED CONFIDENCE OF THE SOUTH FINANCIAL DERANGE- 
MENT DEFECTIVE FINANCIAL SYSTEM OF THE SOUTH MR. DAVIs' LIMITED 

CONNECTION WITH IT THE REASONS FOR THE FINANCIAL FAILURE OF THE 

CONFEDERACY — INFLUENCE OF SPECULATION — ANOMALOUS SITUATION OF THE 
SOUTH — MR. DAVIs' VIEWS OF THE FINANCIAL POLICY OF THE SOUTH AT THE 

BEGINNING OF THE WAR MILITARY OPER.ATIONS IN TENNESSEE BRAGG 

RETREATS TO CHATTANOOGA MORGAN's EXPEDITION SURRENDER OF CUM- 
BERLAND GAP — FEDERAL OCCUPATION OF CHATTANOOGA — BATTLE OF CHICKA- 
MAUGA BRAGG's expectations GRANTS OPERATIONS BRAGG BADLY DE- 
FEATED PRESIDENT DAVIs' VIEW OF THE DISASTER GENERAL BRAGG RE- 
LIEVED FROM COMMAND OF THE WESTERN ARMY CENSURE OF THIS OFFICER 

HIS MERITS AND SERVICES THE UNJUST CENSURE OF MR. DAVIS AND GEN- 
ERAL BRAGG FOR THE REVERSES IN THE WEST OPERATIONS IN VIRGINIA 

IN THE LATTER PART OF 1863 CONDITION OF THE SOUTH AT THE CLOSE OF 

THE YEAR SIGNS OF EXHAUSTION PRESIDENT DAVIs' RECOMMENDATIONS 

PUBLIC DESPONDENCY — THE WORK OP FACTION — ABUSE OF MR. DAVIS IN 
CONGRESS THE CONTRAST BETWEEN HIMSELF AND HIS ASSAILANTS DEFI- 
CIENCY OF FOOD HOW CAUSED THE CONFEDERACY EVENTUALLY CONQUERED 

BY STARVATION. 



CHAPTER XYII. 

(Page 502-532.) 

AN EFFORT TO BLACKEN THE CHARACTER OF THE SOUTH — THE PERSECUTION OP 
MR. DAVIS AS THE SUBSTITUTE FOR THE ASSUMED OFFENSES OP THE SOUTH — 

REPUTATION OF THE SOUTH FOR HUMANITY TREATMENT OF PRISONERS OF 

WAR — EARLY ACTION OF THE CONFEDERATE GOVERNMENT UPON THE SUBJECT 
— MR. DAVIs' LETTER TO MR. LINCOLN — THE COBB-WOOL NEGOTIATIONS — PER- 
FIDIOUS CONDUCT OF THE FEDERAL AUTHORITIES A CARTEL ARRANGED BY 

GENERALS DIX AND HILL COMMISSIONER OULD HIS CORRESPONDENCE WITH 

THE FEDERAL AGENT OF EXCHANGH — REPEATED PERFIDY OF THE FEDERAL 



CONTENTS. XV 

GOVERNMENT — SUSPENSION OF THE CAKTEL CAUSED BY THE BAD FAITH OF 
THE FEDERAL ADMINISTRATION, AND THE SUFFERING WHICH IT CAUSED — 
EFFORTS OF THE CONFEDERATE AUTHORITIES TO RENEW THE OPERATION OP 
THE CARTEL — HUMANE OFFER OF COMMISSIONER OULD — JUSTIFICATION OF THE 
CONFEDERATE AUTHORITIES — GUILT OF THE FEDERAL GOVEKNxMENT — MR. 
DAVIs' STATEMENT OF THE MATTER — COLONEL OULd's LETTER TO MR. ELD- 
RIDGE — NORTHERN STATEMENTS: GENERAL BUTLER, NEW YORK TRIBUNE 
ETC. — THE CHARGE OF CRUELTY AGAINST THE SOUTH — A CONTRAST BETWEEN 
ANDERSONVILLE AND ELMIRA — IMPOVERISHMENT OF THE SOUTH — DISREPU- 
TABLE MEANS EMPLOYED TO AROUSE RESENTMENT OF THE NORTH — THE VIN- 
DICATION OF THE SOUTH AND OF MR DAVIS — HIS STAINLESS CHARACTER, HIS 
HUMANITY AND FORBEARANCE — AN INQUIRY OF HISTORY. 



CHAPTER Xyill. 

(Page 533-562.) , 

INDICATIONS OF POPULAR FEELING AT THE BEGINNING OF 1864 — .\PATHY AND 

DESPONDENCY OF THE NORTH — IMPROVED FEELING IN THE CONFEDERACY 

THE PROBLEM OF ENDURANCE PREPARATIONS OP THE CONFEDER.iTE GOV- 
ERNMENT — MILITARY SUCCESS THE GREAT DESIDERATUM — A SERIES OP SUC- 
CESSES — FINNEGAN's VICTORY IN FLORIDA — SHEKMAn's EXPEDITION — FOR- 

eests victory — the raid op dahlgren — taylor defeats banks — 
Forrest's Tennessee campaign — iioke's victory — the value op these 

•WWOR victories — C0NCENTR.\TI0N FOR THE GREAT STRUGGLES IN VIRGINIA 

AND GEORGIA FEDERAL PREPARATIONS— GENERAL GRANT — HIS THEORY OF 

WAR — HIS PLANS THE FEDERAL FORCES IN VIRGINIA SHERMAN FEEBLE 

RESOURCES OF THE CONFEDERACY — THE " ON TO RICHMOND" AND " ON TO 
ATLANTA" — GENERAL GRANT BAFFLED — HE NARROWLY ESCAPES RUIN — HIS 
OVERLAND MOVEMENT A TOTAL FAILURE — SHERIDAN THREATENS RICHMOND 

— DEATH OF STUART ^BUTLER S ADVANCE UPON RICHMOND THE CITY IN 

GREAT PERIL — BEAUREG.VRD's PLAN OF OPERATIONS— VIEWS OF MR. DAVIS 

DEFEAT OF BUTLER, AND HIS CONFINEMENT IN A " CUL DE SAC " FAILURE OP 

grant's COMBINATIONS — CONSTANTLY BAFFLED BY LEE — TERRIBLE LOSSES 
OP THE FEDERAL ARMY GRANT CROSSES THE JAMES — HIS FAILURES RE- 
PEATED — HIS NEW COMBINATIONS — EARLY's OPERATIONS IN THE VALLEY 
AND ACROSS THE POTOMAC — THE FEDERAL COMBINATIONS AGAIN BROKEN 
DOWN — FAVORABLE SITUATION IN VIRGINIA — THE MISSION OF MESSRS. CLAY, 
THOMPSON, AND HOLCOJIBE CORRESPONDENCE WITH MR. LINCOLN — THE AR- 
ROGANT AND MOCKING REPLY OF THE FEDERAL PRESIDENT. 



XVI CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER XIX. 

(Page 5C3-589.) 

DISAPPOINTMENT AT RESULTS OP THE GEORGIA CAMPAIGN HOW FAR IT WAS 

PARALLEL WITH THE VIRGINIA CAMPAIGN DIFFERENT TACTICS ON BOTH 

.^IDES REMOVAL OF GENERAL JOHNSTON THE EXPLANATION OP THAT 

STEP — A QUESTION FOR MILITARY JUDGMENT THE NEGATIVE VINDICATION 

OF GENERAL JOHNSTON — DIFFERENT THEORIES OF WAR THE REAL PHILOS- 
OPHY OF THE SOUTHERN FAILURE — THE ODDS IN NUMBERS AND RESOURCES 
AGAINST THE SOUTH WATER FACILITIES OF THE ENEMY STRATEGIC DIFFI- 
CULTIES OF THE SOUTH THE BLOCKADE INSIGNIFICANCE OF MINOR QUES- 
TIONS JEFFERSON DAVIS THE WASHINGTON OP THE SOUTH GENERAL JOHN 

B. HOOD HIS DISTINGUISHED CAREER — HOPE OF THE SOUTH RENEWED 

hood's OPERATIONS — LOSS OF ATLANTA — IMPORTANT QUESTIONS — ^PRESIDENT 
DAVIS IN GEORGIA — PERVERSE CONDUCT OP GOVERNOR BROWN — ^MR. DAVIS 

IN MACON AT HOOd's HEAD-QUARTERS HOW HOOd's TENNESSEE CAMPAIGN 

VARIED FROM MR. DAVIs' INTENTIONS SHERMAn's PROMPT AND BOLD CON- 
DUCT — hood's MAGNANIMOUS ACKNOWLEDGMENT — DESTRUCTION OF THE CON- 
FEDERATE POWER IN THE SOUTH-WEST. 



CHAPTER XX. 

(Page 590-613.) 

INCIDENTS ON THE LINES OP RICHMOND AND PETERSBURG DURING THE SUMMER 

AND AUTUMN CAPTURE OF FORT HARRISON OTHER DEMONSTRATIONS j- BY 

GRANT THE SITUATION NEAR THE CONFEDERATE CAPITAL NEARLY S VALLEY 

CAMPAIGN POPULAR CENSURE OF EARLY INFLUENCE OP THE VALLEY CAM- 
PAIGN UPON THE SITUATION NEAR RICHMOND WHAT THE AGGREGATE OF 

CONFEDERATE DISASTERS SIGNIFIED DESPONDENCY OF THE SOUTH THE IN- 
JURIOUS EXAJIPLES OP PROMINENT MEN THE PRESIDENT AND GENERAL LEE 

^MR. DAVIs' POPULARITY WHY HE DID NOT FULLY COMPREHEND THE DE- 
MORALIZATION OP THE PEOPLE HE HOPES FOR POPULAR REANIMATION WAS 

THE CASE OF THE CONFEDERACY HOPELESS? — VACILLATING CONDUCT OP CON- 
GRESS THE CONFEDERATE CONGRESS A WEAK BODY MR. DAVIs' RELATIONS 

WITH CONGRESS PROPOSED CONSCRIPTION OF SLAVES — FAVORED BY DAVIS 

AND LEE DEFEATED BY CONGRESS LEGISLATION DIRECTED AGAINST THE 

PRESIDENT — DAVIs' OPINION OF LEE — RUMORS OP PEACE — HAMPTON ROADS 

CONFERENCE — THE FEDERAL ULTIMATUM THE ABSURD CHARGE AGAINST 

MR. DAVIS OF OBSTRUCTING NEGOTIATIONS — HIS RECORD ON THE SUBJECT OF 

PEACE A RICHMOND NEWSPAPER ON THE FEDERAL ULTIMATUM — DELUSIVE 

SIGNS OP PUBLIC SPIRIT — NO ALTERNATIVE BUT CONTINUED RESISTANCE- 
REPORT OF THE HAMPTON ROADS CONFERENCE. 



CONTENTS. Xvii 

CHAPTER XXI. 

(Page 014-630.) 

MILITARY OPERATIONS IX THE EARLY PART OF 1805 — LAST PHASE OF THE MILI- 
TARY POLICY OF THE CONFEDERACY — THE PLAN TO CRUSH SHERMAN — CALM 

DEMEANOR OF PRESIDENT DAVIS CHEERFULNESS OP GENERAL LEE — THE 

QUESTION AS TO THE SAFETY OF RICHMOND — WEAKNESS OF GENERAL LEE'S 
ARMY — PREPARATIONS TO EVACUATE RICHMOND BEFORE THE CAMPAIGN 

OPENED — A NEW BASIS OF HOPE WHAT WAS TO BE REASONABLY ANTICI- 

,PATED — THE CONTRACTED THEATRE OF WAR — THE FATAL DISASTERS AT 
PETERSBURG — MR. DAVIS RECEIVES THE INTELLIGENCE WHILE IN CHURCH — 
RICHMOND EVACUATED — PRESIDENT DAVIS AT DANVILLE — HIS PROCLAJIATION 
— SURRENDER OF LEE — DANVILLE EVACUATED — THE LAST OFFICIAL INTER- 
VIEW OF MR. DAVIS WITH GENERALS JOHNSTON AND BEAUREGARD HIS AR- 
RIVAL AT CHARLOTTE — INCIDENTS AT CHARLOTTE — REJECTION OF THE SHER- 
M-tN-JOHNSTON SETTLEMENT — MR. DAVIs' INTENTIONS AFTER THAT EVENT — 
HIS MOVEMENTS SOUTHWARD — INTERESTING DETAILS — CAPTURE OF MR. DA- 
VIS AND HIS IMPRISONMENT AT FORTRESS MONROE. 



CHAPTER XXII 

(Page 637-045.) 



MOTIVE OF MR. DAVIS ARREST — AN AFTER-THOUGHT OF STANTON AND THE 
BUREAU OF MILITARY JUSTICE — THE EMBARRASSMENT PRODUCED BY HIS CAP- 
TURE — THE INF.tMOUS CHARGES AGAINST HIM — WHY MR. DAVIS WAS TREATED 
WITH EXCEPTIONAL CRUELTY — THE OUTRAGES AND INDIGNITIES OFFERED 
HIM — HIS PATIENT AND HEROIC ENDURANCE OF PERSECUTION — HIS RELEASE 

FROM FORTRESS MONROE — BAILED BY THE FEDERAL COURT AT RICHMOND 

JOY OF THE COMMUNITY — IN CANADA — RE-APPEARANCE BEFORE THE FEDERAL 
COURT — HIS TRIAL AGAIN POSTPONED CONCLUSION. 



LIFE OF JEFFEKSON DAYIS. 



INTRODUCTION. 

ATTRACTIONS OF THE LATE WAR TO POSTERITY — MR. LINCOLN'S REMARK — DIS- 
ADVANTAGES OP MR. DATIS' SITUATION SUCCESS NOT SYNONYMOUS WITH 

MERIT — ORIGIN OF THE INJUSTICE DONE MR. DAVIS — REMARK OP MACAU- 
LAY — REMARK OP MR. GLADSTONE — THE EFFECT THAT CONFEDERATE SUC- 
CESS WOULD HAVE HAD UPON THE FAME OF MR. DAVIS — POPULAR AFFECTION 
FOR HIM IN THE SOUTH — HIS VINDICATION ASSURED. 

rVyO future generations the period in American history, of 

-■- most absorbing interest and profound inquiry, will be 

that embracing the incipiency, progress, and termination of 

the revolution which had its most pronounced phase in the 

memorable war of 1861. Hi.storians rarely concur in their 

estimates of the limits of a revolution, and usually we find 

quite as much divergence in their views of the scope of its 

operations, as in their speculations as to its origin and causes, 

and their statements of its incidents and results. If, however, 

it is difficult to assign, with minute accuracy, the exact limits 

and proper scope of those grand trains of consecutive evcnt.s, 

which swerve society from the beaten track of ages, divert 

nations from the old path of progress into what seems to be 

the direction of a new destiny, and often transform the a.spect 

(13) 



14 INTRODUCTION. 

of continents, it is comparatively an easy task to reach a re- 
liable statement of their more salient and conspicuous inci- 
dents. It is in this aspect that the Titanic conflict, which 
had its beginning with the booming of the guns in Charleston 
harbor in April, 1861, and its crowning catastrophe at Appo- 
mattox Court-house in April, 1865, will be chiefly attractive 
to the future student. As a point of departure from the 
hitherto unbroken monotony of American history, the begin- 
ning of a new order of things, the extinction of important 
elements of previous national existence, embracing much that 
was consecrated in the popular affections; in short, as a com- 
plete political and social transformation, an abrupt, but thor- 
ough perversion of the government from its original purposes 
and previous policy, this period must take its place, with 
important suggestions of theory and illustration, among the 
most impressive lessons of history. 

The profound interest which shall center upon the period 
that we have under consideration, must necessarily subject to 
a rigid investigation the lives, characters, and conduct of those 
to whom were allotted conspicuous parts in the great drama. 
It is both a natural and reasonable test that the world applies 
in seeking to solve, through the qualities and capacities of 
those who direct great measures of governmental policy, the 
merits of the movements themselves. The late President of 
the United States, Mr. Lincoln, avowed his inability to escape 
the judgment of history, and the bare statement sufficiently 
describes the inevitable necessity, not only of his own situa- 
tion, but of all who bore a prominent part on either side of 
the great controversy. 

Jefferson Davis confronts posterity burdened with the 
disadvantage of having been the leader of an unsuccessful 



INTRODUCTION. 15 

political movement. "Nothing succeeds like success," was 
the pithy maxim of Talleyrand, to whose astute observation 
nothing was more obvious than the disposition of mankind to 
make success the touchstone of merit. It is, nevertheless, a 
vulgar and often an erroneous criterion. What could be more 
absurd than to determine by such a test the comparative valor, 
generalship, and military character of the two contestants in 
the late war? Concede its applicability, however, and we 
exalt the soldiership of the North above all precedent, and 
consign the unequaled valor of the Southern soldiery to re- 
proach, instead of the deathless fame which shall survive them. 
To such a judgment every battle-field of the war gives em- 
phatic and indignant contradiction. History abounds with 
evidence of the influence of accident and of extraneous cir- 
cumstances, in the decision of results, which, if controlled by 
the question of merit, as understood by the predominant sense 
of mankind, would have borne a vastly diiFerent character. 

But, in addition to the disparaging influence of the failure 
of the cause which he represented, Mr. Davis has encountered 
an unparalleled degree of personal hate, partizan rancor, of 
malignant and gratuitous misrepresentation, the result, to a 
great extent, of old partizan rivalries and jealousies, engen- 
dered in former jieriods of the history of the Union, and also 
of the spirit of domestic disaffection and agitation which inevi- 
tably arises against every administration of public affairs, espe- 
cially at times of unusual danger and embarrassment.* The 

*A pertinent remark of Macaulay is, "It is the nature of parties to re- 
tain their original enmities far more firmly than their original principles. 
During many years, a generation of Whigs, whom Sydney would have 
spurned as slaves, continued to wage war with a generation of Tories 
whom Jefi&ies would have hanged." 



16 INTRODUCTION. 

almost fanatical hatred of the Northern masses against Mr. 
Davis, as the wicked leader of a causeless rebellion against the 
Government of his country, as a conspirator against the peace 
and happiness of his fellow-citizens, and as a relentless monster, 
who tortured and starved prisoners of war, springs from the 
persistent calumnies of such leaders of Northern opinion, as 
have an ignoble purpose of vindictive hatred to gratify by the 
invention of these atrocious charges. Yet this feeling of the 
North hardly exceeds in violence, the resentment with which 
it was sought to inflame the Southern people against him, at 
critical stages of the war, as an unworthy leader, whose inca- 
pacity, pragmatism, nepotism, and vanity were rushing them 
into material and political perdition. Of popular disaffection 
to the Confederate cause, or dislike of INIr. Davis, there was 
an insignificantly small element, never dangerous in the sense 
of attemj^ted revolt against the authorities, but often hurtful, 
because it constituted the basis of support to such prominent 
men as fancied their personal ambition, or amour propre, offended 
by the President. A misfortune of the South was that there 
were not a few such characters, and their influence upon cer- 
tain occasions was as baleful to the public interests as their 
animus was malignant against Mr. Davis. Hoping to advance 
themselves by misrej^resentations of him, during the war they 
persistently charged upon him every disaster, and do not scru- 
ple to impute to his blame those final fiilures so largely trace- 
able to themselves. A patriotic regard for the public safety 
imposed silence upon ISIr. Davis while the war continued, and 
a magnanimity which they have neither deserved nor appre- 
ciated, coupled with a proper sense of personal dignity, have 
impelled him since to refrain from refutation of misstatements 
utterly scandalous and inexcusable. 



INTRODUCTION. 17 

The distinguished English statesman,* who, during the prog- 
ress of the late war, declared that " Mr. Jefferson Davis had 
created a nation," stated more than the truth, though he hardly 
exaggerated the flattering estimate which the intelligent public 
of Europe places upon the unsurpassed ability and energy with 
which the limited resources of the South, as compared with 
those of her enemies, were, for the uiost part, wielded by the 
Confederate administration. Nor, indeed, would such an esti- 
mate have been too extravagant to be entertained by his own 
countrymen, had the South achieved her independence by any 
stroke of mere good fortune, such as repeatedly favored her 
adversaries at critical moments of the war, when, apparently, 
the most trifling incidents regulated the balance. More than 
once the South stood upon the very threshold of the full frui- 
tion of her aspirations for independence and nationality. Had 
Jackson not fallen at Chancellorsville, the Federal Army of 
the Potomac, the bulwark of the Union in the Atlantic States, 
would have disappeared into history under circumstances far 
different from those which marked its dissolution two years 
later. At Gettysburg the Confederacy was truthfully said to 
have been " within a stone's-throw of peace." If at these 
fateful moments the treacherous scales of fortune had not 
strangely turned, and in the very flush of triumph, who doubts 
that now and hereafter there would have come from South- 
ern hearts, an ascription of praise to Jefferson Davis, no less 
earnest than to his illustrious colaborers? At all events, it 
is undeniable that, as the Confederate arms prospered, so the 
affection of the people for Mr. Davis was always more en- 
thusiastic and demonstrative. Only in moments of extreme 
public depression could the malcontents obtain even a patient 

*Mr. Gladstone. 
2 



18 INTRODUCTION. 

audience of their assaults upon the chosen President of the 
Confederacy. 

The people of the late Confederate States, whose destinies 
Jefferson Davis directed during four years, the most moment- 
ous in their history, are competent witnesses as to the fidelity, 
ability, and devotion with which he discharged the trust con- 
fided to hira. 

Their judgment is revealed in the affectionate confidence 
with which, during their struggle for liberty, they upheld him, 
and in the joyful acclaim, which echoed from the Potomac to 
the E.io Grande upon the announcement of his release from his 
vicarious captivity. As he was the chosen representative of 
the power, the Mdll, and the aspirations of a chivalrous people, 
so they will prove themselves the jealous custodians of his 
fame. Be the verdict of posterity as it may, they will not 
shrink from their share of the odium, and will be common 
participants with him in the award of eulogy. There is more 
than an unreasoning presentiment, something more tangible 
than vague hope, in the calm and cheerful confidence with which 
both look forward to that ample vindication of truth which 
always follows candid and impartial inquiry. 

That time will triumphantly vindicate Mr. Davis is as cer- 
tain, as that it will dispel the twilight mazes which yet obscure 
the grand effort of patriotism which he directed. The rank 
luxuriance of prejudice, asperity, and falsehood must eventu- 
ally yield to the irresistible progress of reason and truth. 
Bribery, perjury, every appliance which the most subtle inge- 
nuity of eager and unscrupulous malice could invent, have 
been exhausted in the vain effort to make infamous, in the 
sight of mankind, a noble cause, by imputation of personal 
odium upon its most distinguished representative. Day by 



INTRODUCTION. 19 

day he rises beyond the reach of calumny, and his character 
expands into the fair proportions of the grandest ideals of 
excellence. An adamantine heroism of the antique pattern ; 
purity exalted to an altitude beyond conception even of the 
vulgar nilnd; devotion which shrank from no sacrifice and 
quailed before no peril, were qualities giving tone to the genius, 
which, wielding the inadequate means of a feeble Confederacy, 
for years, withstood the shock of poAV erful invasion, baffled and 
humiliated a nation, unlimited in resources, and in spite of dis- 
astrous failure, lends unexampled dignity to the cause in which 
it was employed. 



20 LIFE OP JEFFEESON DAVIS. 



CHAPTER I. 

BIRTH — EDUCATION — AT WEST POINT — IN THE ARMY — RETIREMENT — POLITI- 
CAL TRAINING IN A3IERICA MR. DAVIS NOT EDUCATED FOR POLITICAL LIFE 

AFTER THE AMERICAN MODEL — BEGINS HIS POLITICAL CAREER BY A SPEECH 
AT THE MISSISSIPPI DEJIOCRATIC CONVENTION — A GLANCE PROSPECTIVELY AT 

HIS FUTURE PARTY ASSOCIATIONS HIS CONSISTENT ATTACHMENT TO STATES* 

EIGHTS PRINCIPLES A SKETCH OF THE DEVELOPMENT OP THE QUESTION OP 

states' RIGHTS -MR. CALHOUN NOT THE AUTHOR OP THAT PRINCIPLE HIS 

VINDICATION FROM THE CHARGE OF DISUNIONISM — MR. DAVIS THE SUCCESSOR 
OF MR. CALHOUN AS THE STATES' RIGHTS lEADER. 

JEFFERSON DAVIS was born on the third day of June, 
1808, in that portion of Chri.stian County, Kentucky, 
which, by subsequent act of the Legislature, was made Todd 
County. His father, Samuel Davis, a planter, during the Rev- 
olutionary war served as an officer in the mounted force of 
Georgia, an organization of local troops. Subsequently to the 
Revolution Samuel Davis removed to Kentucky, and continued 
to reside in that state until a few years after the birth of his 
son Jefferson, when he removed with his family to the 
neighborhood of "VVoodville, Wilkinson County, in the then 
territory of Mississippi. At the period of his father's removal 
to Missi^jsippi, Jefferson was a child of tender years. After 
having enjoyed the benefits of a partial academic training at 
home, he was sent, at an earlier age than is usual, to Transyl- 
vania University, Kentucky, where he remained until he 



WEST POIXT AND THE ARMY. 21 

readied the age of sixteen. In 1824 he was appointed, by 
President Monroe, a cadet at the West Point Military Academy. 

Among his contemporaries at the academy were Robert E. 
Lee, Joseph E. Johnston, Albert Sidney Johnston, Leonidas 
Polk, John B. Magruder, and others who have since earned 
distinction. Ordinary merit could not have commanded in 
such an association of talent and character the position which 
Davis held as a cadet. A fellow-cadet thus speaks of him : 
" Jefferson Davis was distinguished in the corps for his manly 
bearing, his high-toned and lofty character. His figure was 
very soldier-like and rather robust ; his step springy, resem- 
bling the tread of an Indian * brave' on the war-path." He 
graduated in June, 1828, receiving the customary appointment 
of Brevet Second Lieutenant, which is conferred upon the 
graduates of the academy. Assigned to the infantry, he served 
with such fidelity in that branch of the service, and with such 
especial distinction as a stiiflf officer on the North-western fron- 
tier in 1831-32, that he was promoted to the rank of First 
Lieutenant and Adjutant of a new regiment of dragoons in 
March, 1833. 

About this period tlie Indians, on various portions of the 
frontier, stimulated by dissatisfaction with the course of the 
Government concerning certain claims and guarantees, which 
had been accorded them in previous treaties, were excessively 
annoying, and the Government was forced to resort to energetic 
military measures to suppress them. Lieutenant Davis had 
ample opportunity for the exhibition of his high soldierly 
qualities, cool courage, and admirable self-possession, in the 
Black Hawk war, during which he was frequently employed 
in duties of an important and dangerous character. During 
the captivity of Black Hawk, that famous Indian chieftain and 



22 LIFE OF JEFFERSON DAVIS. 

warrior is said to have conceived a very strong attachment for 
Lieutenant Davis, whose gallantry and pleasing amenities of 
bearing greatly impressed the captive enemy. After his trans- 
fer to the dragoons, Lieutenant Davis saw two years of very 
active service in the various expeditions against the Pawnees, 
Camanches, and other Indian tribes, and accompanied the first 
expedition which successfully penetrated the strongholds of the 
savages, and conquered a peace by reducing them to subjection. 

Though attached to the profession of arms, for which he has 
on repeated occasions, during his subsequent life, evinced an 
almost passionate fondness and a most unusual aptitude, Lieu- 
tenant Davis resigned his commission in June, 1835, and re- 
turning to Mississippi devoted his attention to the cultiva- 
tion of cotton and to the assiduous pursuit of letters. Not 
long after his resignation, he had married the daughter of .Col. 
Zachary Taylor, under whose eye he was destined, in a few 
years, to win such immortal renown upon the fields of Mexico. 
Living upon his plantation in great seclusion, he devoted him- 
self with zeal and enthusiasm to those studies which were to qual- 
ify him for the eminent position in politics and statesmanship 
which he had resolved to assume. In that retirement were 
sown the seed, whose abundant fruits were seen in those splen- 
did specimens of senatorial and popular eloquence, at once 
models of taste and exhibitions of intellectual power ; in the 
pure, terse, and elegant English of his matchless state papers, 
which will forever be the delight of scholars and the study of 
statesmen, and in that elevated and enlightened statesmanship, 
which scorning the low ambition of demagogues and striving 
always for the ends of patriotism and principle, illumines, for 
more than a score of years, the legislative history of the Union. 

The period of Mr. Davis' retirement is embraced within the 



EETlllEMEXT. 23 

interval of his ■withdrawal from the army, in 1835, and the 
beginning of his active participation in the local politics of 
Mississippi, in 1843, a term of eight years. The diligent 
application with \vhich he was employed during these years 
of seclusion constituted a most fortunate preparation for the 
distinguished career upon which he at once entered. There is 
not, in the whole range of American biography, an instance 
of more thorough preparation, of more ample intellectual dis- 
cipline, and elaborate education for political life. 

The trade of politics is an avocation familiar to Americans, 
and in the more ordinary maneuvers of party tactics, in that 
lower species of political strategy which, in our party vocabu- 
lary, is aptly termed "wire-pulling," our politicians may boast 
an eminence in their class not surpassed in the most corrupt ages 
of the most profligate political establishments which have ever 
existed. Statesmanship, in that broad and elevated conception 
which suggests the noblest models among those who have 
adorned and illustrated the science of government, combining 
those higher attributes of administrative capacity which are 
realized equally in a pure, sound, and just polity, and in a 
free, prosperous, and contented community, is a subject utterly 
unexplored by American politicians at the outset of their 
career, and is comparatively an after-thought with those in- 
trusted with the most responsible duties of state. 

The political training of ]\Ir. Davis was pursued upon a 
basis very different from the American model. It has been 
more akin to the English method, under which the faculties 
and tlie tastes are first cultivated, and the mind qualified by 
all the light which theory and previous example afford for the 
practical labors which are before it. The tastes and habits 
f »rmed during those eight years of retirement have adhered to 



24 LIFE OF JEFFERSON DAYIS. 

Mr. Davis iu his subsequent life. When not engrossed by the 
absorbing cares of state, he has, with rare enthusiasm and 
satisfaction, resorted to those refining pleasures which are ac- 
cessible only to intellects which have known the elevating in- 
fluences of culture. 

Emerging from his seclusion in 1843, when the initiatory 
measures of party organization were in course of preparation 
for the gubernatorial canvass of that year and the Presidential 
campaign of the next, he immediately assumed a prominent 
position among the leaders of the Democratic party in Missis- 
sippi. At this time, probably, no state iu the Union, of equal 
population, excelled Mississippi in the number and distinction 
of her brilliant politicians. Especially was this true of Yicks- 
burg, and of the general neighborhood in which Mr. Davis 
resided.* The genius of Seargent S. Prentiss was then in its 
meridian splendor, and his reputation and popularity were 
coextensive with the Union. Besides Prentiss were Foote, 
Thompson, Claiborne, Gholson, Brown, and many others, all 
comparatively young men, who have since achieved professional 
or political distinction. The appearance of Mr. Davis was soon 
recognized as the addition of a star of no unworthy effulgence 
to this brilliant galaxy. 

The Democratic State Convention, held for the purpose of 
organization for the gubernatorial canvass, and for the appoint- 
ment of delegates to the National Convention, assembled at 
Jackson in the summer of 1843. From the meeting of this 
convention, which Mr. Davis attended as a delegate, may be 
dated the beginning of his political life. In the course of its 

* Mr. Davis has, since his withdrawal from the army until the breaking 
out of the war, resided on his plantation in Warren County, a few miles 
from Vicksbura;. 



FIRST SPEECH. 25 

deliberations he delivered his first public address, which im- 
mediately attracted toward him much attention, and a most 
partial consideration by his party associates. The occasion 
is interesting from this circumstance, and as indicating that 
consistent political bias which, beginning in early manhood, 
constituted the controlling insj)iration of a long career of em- 
inent public service. The undoubted preference of the con- 
vention, as of an overwhelming majority of the masses of the 
Southern Democracy, was for Mr. Van Buren, and its entire 
action in the selection of delegates, and formal expressions of 
feeling, was in accordance with this well-ascertained pref- 
erence. To a proposition instructing the delegates to the 
National Convention, to support the nomination of Mr. Van 
Buren so long as there was a reasonable hope of his selection 
by the party, Mr. Davis proposed an amendment instructing 
the delegates to support Mr. Calhoun as the second choice of 
the Democracy of Mississippi, in the event of such a contin- 
gency as should render clearly hopeless the choice of Mr. Van 
Buren. In response to an inquiry from an acquaintance if his 
amendment was meant in good faith, and did not contemplate 
detriment to the interests of Mr. Van Buren, Mr. Davis rose and 
addressed the convention in explanation of his purpose, and in 
terms of such earnest and appropriate eulogy of Mr. Calhoun and 
his principles as to elicit the most enthusiastic commendation. 

So favorable was the impression which Mr. Davis made 
upon his party, and so rapid his progress as a popular speaker, 
that in the Presidential campaign of 1844, the Democracy con- 
ferred upon him the distinction of a place upon its electoral 
ticket. In this canvass he acquired great reputation, and estab- 
lished himself immovably in the confidence and admiration of 
the people of Llississippi. 



26 LIFE OF JEFFERSON DAVIS. 

This seems an aj^propriate point from which to glance pros- 
pectively at the political principles and party associations of 
Mr. Davis in his after career. Until its virtual dissolution at 
Charleston, in 1860, he was an earnest and consistent member 
of the Democratic party. To those who are familiar with the 
party nomenclature of the country, no inconsistency with this 
assertion will appear involved in the statement, that he has 
also been an ardent disciple of the doctrine of States' Rights. 
The Democratic party and the States' Rights party were in- 
deed identical, when a profession of political faith in this 
country was significant of something ennobling upon the score 
of principle, something higher than a mere aspiration for the 
spoils of office. When, in subsequent years, to the large major- 
ity of its leaders, the chief significance of a party triumph, con- 
sisted in its being the occasion of a new division of the spoils, 
many of the most eminent statesmen of the South became in 
a measure indifferent to its success. Its prurient aspiration 
for the rewards of place provoked the sarcasm of INIr. Cal- 
houn, that it " was held together by the cohesive power of the 
public plunder," and the still more caustic satire of John Ran- 
dolph, of Roanoke, that it had " seven principles : five loaves 
and two fishes." 

Nevertheless, in its spirit thoroughly national, catholic in all 
its impulses, for many years shaping its policy in^iarmony 
with the protection of Southern institutions, and with few 
features of sectionalism in its organization, it worthily com- 
manded the preference of a large majority of the Southern 
people. To this organization JNIr. Davis adhered until the 
inception of the late conflict, supporting its Presidential nom- 
inations, in the main favoring such public measures as were 
incorporated in the policy of the party, and he was, for sev- 



PARTY ASSOCIATIONS. 27 

eral years prior to the war, by no means the least prominent 
of those named in connection with its choice for the Presi- 
dency in 1860. ^ 

It is no part of the task which has been undertaken in these 
pages to sketch the mutations of political parties, or to trace 
the historical order and significance of events, save in their 
immediate and indispensable connection with our appropriate 
subject. So closely identified, however, has been the public 
life of Mr. Davis with the question of States' Rights, so ardent 
has been his profession of that faith, and so able and zealous 
was he in its advocacy and practice, that his life virtually 
becomes an epitome of the most important incidents in the 
development of this great historical question. His earliest 
appearance upon the arena of politics was at a period when the 
various issues which were submitted to the arbitrament of 
arms in the late war^began to assume a practical shape of most 
portentous aspect. / The address which first challenged public 
attention, and that extensive interest which has rarely been 
withdrawn since, was an emphatic indorsement of the political 
philosophy of Mr. Calhoun and a glowing panegyric upon the 
character and principles of that immortal statesman and ex- 
pounder. Unreservedly committing himself, then, he has stead- 
fastly held to the States' Rights creed, as the basis of his po- 
litical faith and the guide of his public conduct. 

If it be true that the decision of the sword only establishes 
facts, and does not determine questions of principle, then the 
principle of States' Rights will be commemorated as something 
more valuable, than as the mere pretext upon which a few 
agitators inaugurated an unjustifiable revolt for the overthrow 
of the Government of the Union. Nothing is more likely than 
that many who recently rejoiced at its suppression by physical 



28 LIFE OF JEFFEESON DAVIS. 

force, may mourn its departure as of that one vital inspiration, 
which alone could have averted the decay of the public liber- 
ties. Practically a " dead letter " now in the partizan slang of 
the demagogues who rule the hour, since its prostration by mil- 
itary ]30wer in the service of the antipodal principle of consoli- 
dation, it will live forever as the motive and occasion of a 
struggle, unparalleled in its heroism and sacrifices in behalf of 
constitutional liberty. 

There is little ground for wonder at the total ignorance and 
persistent misconception in the mind of Europe, at the com- 
mencement of the war, of the motives and purposes of the 
Confederates in seeking a dissolution of the Union, when we 
consider the limited information and perverted views of the 
Northern people and politicians respecting the nature of the 
Federal Government and the intentions of its authors. Nat- 
urally enough, perhaps, the North, seeing in the Union the 
source of its marvelous material prosperity, and with an astute 
appreciation of its ability, by its rapidly-growing numerical 
majority, to pervert the Government to any purpose of sec- 
tional aggression agreeable to its ambition or interests, refused 
to tolerate, as either rational or honest, any theory that con- 
templated disunion as possible in any contingency. In their 
willful ignorance and misapprehension most Northern orators 
and writers denounced the doctrines of States' Rights as new 
inventions — as innovations upon the faith of the fathers of the 
Republic — and professed to regard the most enlightened and 
patriotic statesmen of the South, the pupils and followers of 
illustrious Virginians and Carolinians of the Revolutionary 
era, as agitators, conspirators, and plotters of treason against 
the Union. Upon the score of antiquity, States' Rights prin- 
ciples have a claim to respectability — not for a moment to be 



states' IIIGHTS. 29 

compared with the wrctcliccl devices of expediency or the 
hybrid products of political atheism, to Avhich the brazen 
audacity and hypocrisy of the times apply the misnomer of 
" principles." 

They are, in flict, older than the Union, and antedate, not 
only the present Constitution, but even the famous Articles 
of Confederation, under which our forefathers fought through 
the first Revolution. The Congress which adopted the Dec- 
laration of Independence emphatically negatived a proposition 
looking to consolidation, offered by New Hampshire on the 
15th of June, 1776, that the Thirteen Colonies be declared 
a " free and independent State," and expressly affirmed their 
separate sovereignty by declaring them to be " free and 
independent States." The declaration of the Articles of Con- 
federation was still more explicit — that "each State retains 
its sovereignty, freedom, and independence, and eveiy power, 
jurisdiction, and right, which is not by this Confederation 
expressly delegated to the United States in Congress assem- 
bled." The Convention of 1787 clearly designed the present 
Constitution to be the instrument of a closer association of 
the States than had been effected by the Articles of Confed- 
eration, but the proof is exceedingly meager of any general 
desire that it should establish a consolidated nationality. 

At this early period the antagonism of the two schools of 
American politics was plainly discernible. The conflict of 
faith is easily indicated. The advocates of States' Rights 
regarded the Union as a compact between the States — something 
more than a mere league formed for purposes of mutual safety, 
but still a strictly volnntary association of Sovereignties, in 
which certain general powers were specifically delegated to 
the Union ; and all others not so delegated were reserved by 



30 LIFE OF JEFFEBSOX DAVIS. 

the States in their separate characters. The advocates of Con- 
solidation considered the Union a National Government — in 
other words, a centralized power — to which the several States 
occupied the relation of separate provinces. 

The famous resolutions of ^98, adopted respectively by the 
Yiroinia and Kentucky Legislatures, were the formal declar- 
ations of principles upon which the States' Rights party was 
distinctly organized under Mr. Jefferson, whom it successfully 
supported for the Presidency against the elder Adams at the 
expiration of the term of the latter. AVith the progress of 
time the practical significance of these opposing principles be- 
came more and more apparent, and their respective followers 
strove, with constantly-increasing energy, to make their party 
creed paramount in the policy of the Government. A major- 
ity of the Northern people embraced the idea of a perpetual 
Union, whose authority was supreme over all the States, and 
reo-ulated by the will of a numerical majority, which majority, 
it should be observed, they had already secured, and were 
yearly increasing in an enormous ratio. The South, in the 
course of years, with even more unanimity, clung to the idea 
of State Sovereignty, and the interpretation of the Govern- 
ment as one of limited powers, as its shield and bulwark 
against the Northern majority in the collision which it was 
foreseen the aggressive spirit of the latter would eventually 
occasion. 

A common and totally erroneous impression of the North- 
ern mind is that John C. Calhoun invented the idea of State 
Sovereignty for selfish and unpatriotic designs, and as the 
pretext of a morbid hatred to the Union. That eminent 
statesman and sincere patriot never asserted any claim to the 
paternity of the faith which he professed. It is true that^ 



MR. CAIJIOUX. 31 

in a certain sense, he was the founder of the States' Riglits 
2)arty as it existed in his day, and which survived him to 
make a last unsuccessful struggle to save first the Union, 
and, failing in that, to rescue the imperiled liberties of tlie 
South. During the eventful life of Mr. Calhoun the question 
of the relative powers of the Federal and State Governments 
assumed a more practical bearing than before, and his far- 
reaching sagacity was illustrated in his efforts to avert the 
impending evils of consolidation. He was the authoritative 
exponent and revered leader of the votaries of those princi- 
ples which he advocated, but did not originate or invent^ 
and sought to apply as the legitimate and safe solution of 
the circumstances by which he was surrounded. 

Equally absurd and unfounded with the pretense, asserted at 
the North, of the novelty of the idea of State Sovereignty and 
its incompatibility with the spirit of the Constitution, was the 
charge so persistently iterated against Mr. Calhoun and his 
followers, of disunionism; of a restless, morbid discontent, 
which sought continually revenge for imaginary wrongs in a 
dissolution of the Union. To the contrary we have the irre- 
futable arguments of Mr. Calhoun himself in favor of the 
superior efficacy of the States' Rights interpretation, as an 
agency for the preservation of the Union as it was designed 
to exist by its authors. So far from having an anarchical or 
disorganizing tendency, he, on all occasions, maintained that 
his theory was "the only solid foundation of our system and 
the Union itself." 

To this faith the public life of Jefferson Davis has been 
dedicated. For more than twenty years he sought to illustrate 
it in the realization of a splendid but barren vision of a time- 
honored and time-strengthened Union, consecrated in the com- 



32 LIFE OF JEFFERSON DAVIS. 

mon affections and joint aspirations of a people, now, alas! 
united only in name. 

During the period of their public service together, Mr. Davis 
received a large share of the confidence and regard of Mr. Cal- 
houn, and when the death of the latter deprived the South of 
the counsels of an illustrious public servant, Mr. Davis, though 
comparatively a young man, stood foremost as heir to the 
mantle of the great apostle of States' Rights.* 

* Dr. Craven relates the following incident, which is an impressive 
illustration of the depth and intensity of Mr. Davis' veneration for the 
character of Mr. Calhoun : 

"General Miles observed, interrogatively, that it was reported that 
John C. Calhoun had made much money by speculations, or favoring the 
speculations of his friends, connected with this work (the Rip-Raps, near 
Fortress Monroe). 

"In a moment Mr. Davis started to his feet, betraying much indigna- 
tion by his excited manner and flushed cheek. It was a transfiguration 
of friendly emotion. The feeble and wasted invalid and prisoner, sud- 
denly forgetting his bonds — forgetting his debility, and ablaze with elo- 
quent anger against this injustice to the memory of one he loved and 
reverenced. Mr. Calhoun, he said, lived a whole atmosphere above any 
sordid or dishonest thought — was of a nature to which even a mean act 
was impossible. It was said in every Northern paper that he (Mr. Davis) 
had carried with him five millions in gold when quitting Richmond — 
money pilfered from the treasury of the Confederate States; and that 
there was just as much truth in that as in these imputations against 

Calhoun Calhoun was a statesman, a philosopher, in the true 

sense of that grossly-abused term — an enthusiast of perfect liberty in 
representative and governmental action." — Prison Life of Jefferson Davis. 
Library edition, pages 206, 207. 



PRESIDENTIAL CANVASS. 33 



CHAPTER II. 

RESULTS OF PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION IN 1844 — MR. DAVIS ELECTED TO CON- 
GRESS — HIS FIRST SESSION — PROMINENT MEMBERS OF THE HOUSE — DOUG- 
LAS, HUNTER, SEDDON, ETC. DAVIs' RAPID ADVANCEMENT IN REPUTA- 
TION RESOLUTIONS OFFERED BY HIM SPEECHES ON THE OREGON EXCITE- 
MENT, AND ON THE RESOLUTION OF THANKS TO GENERAL TAYLOR AND HIS 

ARMY N.\TIONAL SENTIMENTS E.MBODIED IN THESE AND OTHER SPEECHES 

A CONTRAST IN THE MATTER OF PATRIOTISM MASSACHUSETTS AND MIS- 
SISSIPPI IN THE MEXICAN WAR DEBATE WITH ANDREW JOHNSON — JOHN 

QUINCY ADAMs' ESTIMATE OF JEFFERSON DAVIS. 

nnHE Presidential canvass of 1844 was one of the most 
-*- memorable and exciting in the annals of American pol- 
itics. By its rcsnlts the popular verdict was rendered upon 
vital questions involved in the administrative and legislative 
policy of the Government. The Democratic party was fully 
committed to the annexation of Texas, with the prospect of 
war with Mexico as an almost inevitable condition bf the 
acquisition of that immense territory, desirable to the Union 
at large, but especially popular with the South, for obvious 
and sufficient reasons. But apart from the signal victory 
achieved by the Democracy, in favor of this and other leading 
measures of that party, the election of 1844 had an incidental 
significance, which the country generally recognized, in its final 
and irrevocable disappointment of the Presidential aspirations 
of Henry Clay. This canva.ss, too, has a peculiar historical 
interest in the demonstration which it gave of the real popular 
3 



34 LIFE OF JEFFERSON DAVIS. 

strength of the respective parties which had so long divided 
the country. Comparatively few temporary issues, of a char- 
acter to excite strong popular feeling respecting either party 
or its candidates, were made, and there was a square and 
obstinate battle of Democracy against Whiggery, of what 
Governor Wise called the old-fashioned " Thomas- Jeiferson- 
Simon-Snyder-red- waistcoat-Democracy," against Henry Clay 
and his "American System." 

The canvass was remarkable not only for its duration and 
the ardor with which it was conducted, but for its unsurpassed 
exhibitions of " stump oratory." The best men of both parties 
were summoned to the fierce conflict; and many were the 
youthful paladins, hitherto unknown to fame, who won their 
golden spurs upon this their first battle-field. Mr. Davis had 
borne a leading part in support of Polk and Dallas and Texas 
annexation in Mississippi. His services were not of a charac- 
ter to be forgotten by his party, nor did an intelligent and 
appreciative public fail to discover in the young man whose 
eloquence and manly bearing had so enlisted their admiration, 
such abilities and acquirements as qualified him to represent 
the honor of his State in any capacity which they might 
intrust to his keeping. 

Of Mississippi it might have been said, as of Virginia, that 
" the sun of her Democracy knew no setting." If possible, 
however, the State was more closely than ever confirmed in her 
Democratic moorings by the decisive results of the election in 
18-14. When Mr. Davis received the appropriate acknowledg- 
ment of popular appreciation in his election to the House of 
Representatives, in November, 1845, Mississippi sent an un- 
broken Democratic delegation to Washington. His associates 
were Messrs. Roberts and Jacob Thompson (afterward Secre- 



ELECTED TO CONGRESS. 35 

tary of the Interior under Mr. Buchanan) in the House, and 
Messrs. Foote and Speight in the Senate. 

On Monday, December 8, 1845, Mr. Davis was quahfied as 
a member of the House of Representatives, and from that day 
dates his eventful and brilliant legislative career. The Twenty- 
ninth Congress was charged with some of the gravest duties of 
legislation. The questions of the tariff, the Oregon excitement, 
during which war with England was so imminent, and the set- 
tlement of important details pertaining to the Texas question, 
were the absorbing concerns which engaged its attention until 
the provisions and appropriations necessary to the successful 
prosecution of the Mexican war imposed still more serious 
labors. The records of this Congress reveal many interesting 
facts concerning individuals who have since figured promi- 
nently in the history of the country. The fact to which we 
have alluded of the unusual interest which had been exhib- 
ited in the recent Presidential contest, doubtless had a consid- 
erable influence in the choice of members of Congress in the 
various States, and largely contributed to its elevated standard 
of ability. 

The debates in the House of Representatives of the Twenty- 
ninth Congress, are unsurpassed in ability and eloquence by 
those of any preceding or subsequent session of that body, and 
upon its rolls are to be found many names, now national in rep- 
utation, which were then but recently introduced to public at- 
tention. Stephen A. Douglas, the most thoroughly representa- 
tive American politician of his time, uniting to a more than 
average proportion of the respectability of his class, his full 
share of its vicious characteristics, politic, adroit, and ambi- 
tious, was comparatively a new member, and, at this time, in 
the morning of his reputation. R. M. T. Hunter, of Virginia, 



36 LIFE OF JEFFERSON DAVIS. 

a statesman of sound judgment and accurate information, who 
based his arguments upon the facts, and reduced the compli- 
cated problems of governmental economy to the conditions of 
a mathematical demonstration, had not yet been transferred to 
the Senate. James A. Seddon, the safe theorist, whose study, 
like Edmund Burke's, was ^' rerum cognoscente causas" the 
acute dialectician, who, in his mental characteristics, no less 
than in his principles, was so closely allied to Mr. Calhoun, 
was, like Jeiferson Davis, for the first time a member of Con- 
gress. Andrew Johnson was then a member of the House and 
at the outset of his remarkable career ; and in addition to these 
were Brinkerhoff, Washington Hunt, Dromgoole, George S. 
Houston, and a score of others, whose names recall interesting 
reminiscences of the day in which they figured. 

To a man of ordinary purpose, or doubtful of himself, the 
prospect of competition with such men, at the very outset of 
his public career, would not have been encouraging. But there 
are men, designed by nature, to rejoice at, rather than to shrink 
from those arduous and hazardous positions to which their re- 
sponsibilities summon them. An attribute of genius is the 
consciousness of strength, and that sublime confidence in the 
success of its own eiforts, which doubly assures victory in the 
battle of life. It was with an assurance of triumph, far differ- 
ent from the harlequin-like effrontery which is often witnessed 
in the political arena, that Jefferson Davis advanced to contest 
the awards of intellectual distinction. With the activity and 
vigor of the disciplined gladiator, with the gaudia certamiyiis 
beaming in every feature, Avith the calm confidence of the 
trained statesman, and yet with all the radiant elan of a youth- 
ful knight contending for his spurs at Templestowe, he pursued 
his brief but impressive career in the lower house of Congress. 



RESOLUTIONS AND SPEECHES. 37 

As a member of the House of Representatives Mr. Davis 
rapidly and steadily won upon the good opinion of his associ- 
ates, and the favorable estimate of hira, entertained by his con- 
stituents and friends, was confirmed by his greatly advanced 
reputation at the period of his withdrawal from Congress in 
the ensuing summer. He became prominent, less by the fre- 
quency with which he claimed the attention of the House, than 
by the accuracy of his information, the substantial value of 
his suggestions and the easy dignity of his demeanor. His 
speeches, though not comparable with his senatorial efforts, 
were characterized by great perspicuity, argumentative force, 
and propriety of taste, and frequently rose to the dignity of 
true eloquence. They, in every instance, gave promise of that 
rhetorical finish, power of statement, unity of thought and 
logical coherence, which, in subsequent years, were so appropri- 
ately illustrated on other theaters of intellectual effort. Mr. 
Davis participated prominently in the debates upon the Oregon 
excitement. Native Americanism, and the various other con- 
temporary topics of interest, which were then before Con- 
gress, but was especially prominent in the discussion of mili- 
tary affairs, the interests and requirements of the army, and the 
measures devised for the prosecution of the Mexican war. Upon 
the latter subjects his experience was of great practical value. 

On the 19th of December, 1845, he offered the following 
resolutions: " Resolved, That the Committee on Military Affairs 
be instructed to inquire into the expediency of converting a por- 
tion of the forts of the United States into schools for military 
instruction, on the basis of substituting their present garrisons 
of enlisted men, by detachments furnished from each State of 
our Union, in the ratio of their several representation in the 
Congress of the United States." 



38 LIFE OF JEFFERSON DAVIS. 

" Resolved, That the Committee on the Post-office and Post- 
roads be required to inquire into the expediency of establish- 
ing a direct daily mail route from Montgomery, Alabama, to 
Jackson, Mississippi." 

The occasion of these motions was the first upon which he 
occupied the floor of the House. 

On the 29th of December, Mr. Davis spoke in a very earnest 
and impressive manner upon Native Americanism, which he 
strongly opposed, and on subsequent occasions addressed the 
House in favor of the bill to receive arms, barracks, fortifica- 
tions, and other public property, the cession of which to the 
Federal Government, by Texas, had been provided to take 
place upon its admission to the Union ; in favor of the prop- 
osition to raise additional regiments of riflemen ; in opposition 
to appropriations for improvement of rivers and harbors ; upon 
the Oregon question, and in favor of a resolution of thanks to 
General Taylor and his army. 

The extracts from his speech on the Oregon question, and 
the speech in favor of thanks to General Taylor and his army, 
which is here given in full, are taken from the reports of the 
Congressional Globe. The intelligent reader will appreciate 
their real value, as to accuracy, without any suggestion from us. 

On February 6, 1846, the House, having resolved itself 
into Committee of the Whole, and having under consideration 
the joint resolution of notice to the British Government con- 
cernino; the abroo-ation of the Convention between the United 
States and Great Britain respecting the territory of Oregon, 
Mr. Davis spoke at some length, and in an attractive and 
instructive style, upon the subject before the House. A great 
portion of the speech consists of interesting historical details, 
evincing a most accurate acquaintance with the subject, and 



SPEECH UPON THE OREGON QUESTION. 39 

giving a clear and valuable analysis of facts. We have space 
for only brief extracts, which arc sufficient to reveal Mr. Davis' 
position upon this important question : 

" Sir, why has the South been assailed in this 

discussion? Has it been with the hope of sowing dissensions 
between us and our Western friends? Thus far, I think, it 
has failed. AVhy the frequent reference to the conduct of the 
South on the Texas question ? Sir, those who liave made re- 
flections on the South as having sustained Texas annexation 
from sectional views have been of those who opposed that 
great measure and are most eager for this. The suspicion is 
but natural in them. But, sir, let me tell them that this 
doctrine of the political balance between different portions of 
the Union is no Southern doctrine. We, sir, advocated the 
annexation of Texas from high national considerations. It 
was not a mere Southern question ; it lay coterminous to the 
Western States, and extended as far north as the forty-sec- 
ond degree of latitude. Nor, sir, do we wish to divide the 
territory of Oregon ; we would preserve it all for the exten- 
sion of our Union. We would not arrest the onward prog- 
ress of our pioneers; we would not, as has been done in this 
debate, ask why our citizens have left the repose of civil gov- 
ernment and gone to Oregon ? We find in it but that energy 
which has heretofore been characteristic of our people, and 
which has developed much that has illustrated our history. 
It is the onward progress of our people toward the Pacific 
which alone can arrest their westward march, and on the 
banks of which, to use the language of our lamented Linn, 
the pioneer will sit down to weep that there are no more for- 
ests to subdue It is, as the representative of a high- 
spirited and patriotic people, that I arm called on to resist this 



f 



40 LIFE OF JEFFERSON DAVIS. 

war clamor. My constituents need no such excitements to 
prepare their hearts for all that patriotism demands. "When- 
ever the honor of the country demands redress; whenever its 
territory is invaded — if, then, it shall be sought to intimidate 
by the fiery cross of St. George — if, then, we are threatened 
with the unfolding of English banners if we resent or resist — 
from the gulf shore to the banks of that great river, through- 
out the length and breadth — Mississippi will come. And 
whether the question be one of Northern or Southern, of 
Eastern or Western aggression, we will not stop to count the 
cost, but act as becomes the descendants of those who, in the 
war of the Revolution, engaged in unequal strife to aid our 

brethren of the North in redressing their injuries 

We turn from present hostility to former friendship — from 
recent defection to the time when Massachusetts and Virginia, 
the stronger brothers of our family, stood foremost and united 
to defend our common rights. From sire to sou has descended 
the love of our Union in our hearts, as in our history are 
mingled the names of Concord and Camden, of Yorktown 
and Saratoga, of Moultrie and Plattsburgh, of Chippewa and 
Erie, of Bowyer and Guildford, and New Orleans and Bun- 
ker Hill. Grouped together, they form a monument to the 
common glory of our common country; and where is the 
Southern man who would wish that monument were less by 
one of the Northern names that constitute the mass? Who, 
standing on the ground made sacred by the blood of Warren, 
could allow sectional feeling to curb his enthusiasm as he 
looked upon that obelisk which rises a monument to free- 
dom's and his country's triumph, and stands a type of the 
time, the men and event that it commemorates; built of ma- 
terial that mocks the waves of time, without niche or mold- 



SPEECH IN FAVOR OF THANKS TO THE ARMY. 41 

ing for parasite or creeping thing to rest on, and pointing 
like a finger to the sky, to raise man's thoughts to phikm- 
thropic and noble deeds." 

It is well known that, upon this subject, there was consid- 
erable division among the Democracy. The effort to conmiit 
the party, as a unit, to a position which would have inevita- 
bly produced war with England signally failed. The country 
had not then reached its present pitch of arrogant inflation, 
which emboldens it to seek opportunity for exhibition in the 
vainglorious role of braggadocio. Mr. Davis, upon this and 
other occasions, significantly rebuked the demagogical clamor 
which would have precipitated the country into a calamitous 
war. His reply, on the 17th of April, 1846, to Stephen A. 
Douglas, who was among the leading instigators of the war- 
feeling in the House, is exceedingly forcible and spirited. 

The following speech in favor of the resolution of thanks 
to General Taylor, the officers and men of his army, for their 
recent successes on the Rio Grande, was delivered May 28, 
1846: 

"As a friend to the army, he rejoiced at the evidence, now 
afforded, of a disposition in this House to deal justly, to feel 
generously toward those to whom the honor of our flag has 
been intrusted. Too often and too long had we listened to 
harsh and invidious reflections upon our gallant little army 
and the accomplished officers who command it. A partial 
opportunity had been offered to exhibit their soldierly quali- 
ties in their true light, and he trusted these aspersions were 
hushed — hushed now forever. As an American, whose heart 
promptly responds to all which illustrates our national char 
acter, and adds new glory to our national name, he rejoiced 
with exceeding joy at the recent triumph of our arms. Yet 



art\ 
ar- ■] 



42 LIFE OF JEFFERSON DAVIS. 

it is no more than he expected from the gallant soldiers who 
hold our post upon the Rio Grande — no more than, when oc- 
casion offers, they will achieve again. It was the triumph of 
American courage, professional skill, and that patriotic pride 
which blooms in the breast of our educated soldier, and which 
droops not under the withering scoff of political revilers. 

" These men will feel, deeply feel, the expression of your 
gratitude. It will nerve their hearts in the hour of future 
conflicts, to know that their country honors and acknowledges 
their devotion. It will shed a solace on the dying moments 
of those who fall, to be assured their country mourns their loss. 
This is the meed for which the soldier bleeds and dies. This 
he will remember long after the paltry pittance of one month's 
extra pay has been forgotten. 

'' Beyond this expression of the nation's thanks, he liked 
the principle of the proposition offered by the gentleman from 
South Carolina. "VYe have a pension system providing for the 
disabled soldier, but he seeks well and wisely to extend it to 
all who may be wounded, however slightly. It is a reward 
offered to those who seek for danger, who first and foremost 
plunge into the fight. It has been this incentive, extended so 
as to cover all feats of gallantry, that has so often crowned the 
British arms with victory, and caused their prowess to be rec- 
ognized in every quarter of the globe. It was the sure and 
high reward of gallantry, the confident reliance upon tneir 
nation's gratitude, which led Napoleon's armies over Europe, 
conquering and to conquer ; and it was these influences which, 
in an earlier time, rendered the Roman arms invincible, and 
brought their eagle back victorious from every land on which 
it gazed. Sir, let not that parsimony (for he did not deem it 
economy) prevent us from adopting a system which in war- 



SPEECH IN FAVOR OF THANKS TO THE ARMY. 43 

•will add so much to the efficiency of troops. Instead of seek- 
ing to fill the ranks of your army by increased pay, let the 
soldier feel that a liberal pension will relieve him from the 
fear of want in the event of disability, provide for his family 
in the event of death, and that he wins his way to gratitude 
and the reward of his countrymen by periling all for honor in 
tlw field, 

"The achievement which we now propose to honor richly 
deserves it. Seldom, sir, in the annals of military history has 
there been one in which desperate daring and military skill 
were more happily combined. The enemy selected his own 
ground, and united to the advantage of a strong position a 
numerical majority of three to one. Driven from his first po- 
sition by an attack in which it is hard to say whether profes- 
sional skill or manly courage is to be more admired, he retired 
and posted his artillery on a narrow defile, to sweep the 
ground over which our troops were compelled to pass. There, 
posted in strength three times greater than our own, they 
waited the approach of our gallant little army. 

"General Taylor knew the danger and destitution of the 
band he left to hold his camp opposite Matamoras, and he 
paused for no regular approaches, but opened his field artil- 
ler}-, and dashed with sword and bayonet on the foe. A single 
charge left him master of their battery, and the number of 
slain attests the skill and discipline of his army. Mr. D. 
referred to a gentleman who, a short time since, expressed 
extreme distrust in our army, and poured out the vials of his 
denunciation upon the graduates of the INIilitary Academy. 
He hoped now the gentleman will withdraw these denuncia- 
tions; that now he will learn the value 9f military science; 
that he will see, in the location, the construction, the defenses 



> 



44 LIFE OF JEFFEESON DAVIS. 

of the bastioned field-works opposite Matamoras, the utility, 
the necessity of a military education. Let hini compare the 
few men who held that with the army who assailed it ; let him 
mark the comparative safety with which they stood within that 
temporary work ; let him consider why the guns along its ram- 
parts were preserved, whilst they silenced the batteries of the 
enemy ; why that Intrenchment stands unharmed by Mexican 
shot, whilst its guns have crumbled the stone walls In Mata- 
moras to the ground, and then say whether he believes a 
blacksmith or a tailor could have secured the same results. 
He trusted the gentleman would be convinced that arms, like 
every occupation, requires to be studied before It can be un- 
derstood: and from these things to which he had called his 

. . . * 

attention, he will learn the power and advantage of military 

science. He would make but one other allusion to the re- 
mcyks of the gentleman he had noticed, who said nine-tenths 
of the graduates of the Military Academy abandoned the serv- 
ice of the United States. If he would take the trouble to ex- 
amine the records upon this point, he doubted not he would 
be surprised at the extent of his mistake. There he would 
learn that a majority of all the graduates are still In service; 
and If he would push his inquiry a little further, he w-ould 
find that a large majority of the commissioned officers who 
bled in the action of -the the 8th and 9th were graduates of 
that academy. 

"He would not enter Into a discussion on the military at 
this time. His pride, his gratification arose from the success 
of our arms. Much was due to the courage which Americans 
have displayed on many battle-fields In former times ; but this 
courage, characteristic of our people, and pervading all sections 
and all classes, could never have availed so much had It not 



SPEECH IX FAVOR OF THANKS TO THE ARMY. 45 

been combined with military science. And the occasion seemed 
suited to enforce this lesson on the minds of those who have 
been accustomed, in season and out of season, to rail at the 
scientific attainments of our officers. 

" The influence of military skill — the advantage of discipline 
in the troops — the power derived from the science of war, in- 
creases with the increased size of the contending armies. "With 
two thousand we had beaten six thousand; with twenty thou- 
sand we would far more easily beat sixty thousand, because the 
general must be an educated soldier who wields large bodies 
of men, and the troops, to act efficiently, must be disciplined 
and commanded by able officers. He but said what he had 
long thought and often said, when he expressed his confidence 
in the ability of our officers to meet those of any service — 
favorably to compare, in all that constitutes the soldier, with 
any army in the world ; and as the field widened for the ex- 
hibition, so would their merits shine more brightly still. 

" With many of the officers now serving on the Rio Grande 
he had enjoyed a personal acquaintance, and hesitated not to 
say that all which skill, and courage, and patriotism could 
perform, might be expected from them. He had forborne to 
speak of the general commanding on the Rio Grande on any 
former occasion ; but he would now say to those who had ex- 
pressed distrust, that the world held not a soldier better qual- 
ified for the service he was engaged in than General Taylor. 
Trained from his youth to arms, having spent the greater 
portion of his life on our frontier, his experience peculiarly 
fits him for the command he holds. Such as his conduct was 
in Fort Harrison, on the Upper Mississippi, in Florida, and 
on the Rio Grande, will it be wherever he meets the enemy 
of his country. 



46 LIFE OF JEFFERSON DAVIS. 

"Those soldiers, to whom so many have applied deprecia- 
tory epithets, upon whom it has been so often said no reliance 
could be placed, they too wdll be found, in every emergency 
renewing such feats as have recently graced our arms, bearing 
I the American flag to honorable triumphs, or falling beneath 
1 its folds, as devotees to our common cause, to die a soldier's 
^ death. 

" He rejoiced that the gentleman from South Carolina (Mr. 
Black) had shown himself so ready to pay this tribute to our 
army. He hoped not a voice would be raised in opposition to 
it — that nothing but the stern regret which is prompted by re- 
membrance of those who bravely fought and nobly died will 
break the joy, the pride, the patriotic gratulation with which 
we hail this triumph of our brethren on the Rio Grande." 
t A striking feature of these two speeches, as, indeed, of all 
"'v^.J^Mr. Davis' Congressional speeches, is the strong and outspoken 
i nationa l^ feeling which pervades them. It is a part of the 
history of these times, that while Jefferson Davis eloquently 
avowed a noble and generous sympathy with his heroic com- 
patriots in Mexico, a prominent Northern politician bespoke 
for the American army, "a welcome with bloody hands to 
hospitable graves." When, a few months afterwards, the 
names of Jefferson Davis and his Mississippi Rifles were 
baptized in blood amid those frowning redoubts at Monterey, 
and when, upon the ensanguined plain of Buena Vista, he 
fell stricken in the very moment of victory, just as his genius 
and the valor of his comrades had broken that last, furious 
onset of the Mexican lancers. New England and her leaders 
stood indiflerent spectators of the scene.* Yet the same New 

♦Massachusetts even refused military honors to the remains of a gal- 
lant son of her own soil, (Captain Lincoln,) and a descendant of one 



DEBATE WITH ANDREW JOHNSON. 47 

England bounded eagerly to the conquest and spoliation of 
their countrymen, and the same leaders clamored valiantly for 
the humiliation, for the blood even, of Jefferson Davis, as a 
traitor and a rebel. Quosque tandem. 

An interesting sequel of this speech was the debate, which 
it occasioned two days afterwards, between Mr. Davis and 
Andrew Johnson, now President of the United States. Mr. 
Johnson, who boasts so proudly of his plebeian origin, and is 
yet said to be morbidly sensitive of the slightest allusion to it 
by others, excepted to Mr. Davis' reference to the " tailor and 
blacksmith," warmly eulogized those callings and mechanical 
avocations in general, and took occasion to expatiate exten- 
sively upon the virtue and intelligence of the masses. ISlr. 
Davis, whose language is clearly not susceptible of any inter- 
pretation disparaging to "blacksmiths and tailors," disclaimed 
the imputation, saying that he had designed merely to illus- 
trate his argument, that the profession of arms, to be under- 
stood, must be studied, and that a mechanic could no more fill 
the place of an educated soldier, than could the latter supply 
the qualifications of the former. Mr. Johnson, however, was 
resolved to seize the opportunity for a panegyric upon the 
populace^ and no explanations could avail. The Globe reports 
this debate as, "in all its stages, not being of an entirely 
pleasant nature." 

As an appropriate conclusion to this sketch of Mr. Davis* 
career in the Ilouse of Representatives, we quote the follow- 
ing extract from an interesting work,^ published some years 

of her most eminent families, who was killed at Bucna Vista. Iler 
fanatical intolerance would not forget that he had fallen in a war which 
she did not approve. 
* ''Our Living Representative Men," by Mr. John Savage. 



48 LIFE OF JEFFERSON DAVIS. 

since : " John Quincy Adams had a habit of always observing 
new members. He would sit near them on the occasion of 
their Congressional debut, closely eyeing and attentively list- 
ening if the speech pleased him, but quickly departing if it 
did not. When Davis first arose in the House, the Ex- 
President took a seat close by. Davis proceeded, and Adams 
did not move. The one continued speaking and the other 
listening ; and those who knew Mr. Adams' habits were fully 
aware that the new member had deeply impressed him. At 
the close of the speech the ' Old Man Eloquent ' crossed over 
to some friends and said, 'That young man, gentlemen, is no 
ordinary man. He will make his mark yet, mind me.' " 



MILITARY CHARACTEE OF MR. DAVIS. 49 



CHAPTER III. 

THE NAME OF JEFFERSON' DAVIS IXSEPARARI.E FROM THE HISTORY OF THE 

MEXICAN WAR HIS ESSENTIALLY MILITARY CHARACTER AND TASTES JOINS 

GENERAL TAYLORS ARMY ON THE RIO GRANDE, AS COLONEL OF THE FAMOUS 
"MISSISSIPPI RIFLES " — MONTEREY — BUENA VISTA — GENERAL TAYLOR's AC- 
COUNT OF DAVIs' CONDUCT — DAVIs' REPORT OF THE ACTION — NOVELTY AND 
ORIGINALITY OF HIS STRATEGY AT BUENA VISTA — INTERESTING STATEMENT 
OP HON. CALEB CUSHING RETURN OF DAVIS TO THE UNITED STATES TRI- 
UMPHANT RECEPTION AT HOME PRESIDENT POLK TENDERS HIM A BRIGA- 
DIER'S COMMISSION, WHICH HE DECLINES ON PRINCIPLE. 

fTHHE name of Davis is inseparable from those lettered glo- 
-■- ries of the American Union, which were the brilliant 
trophies of the Mexican war. In those bright annals it was 
engraven with unfading lustre upon the conquering banners of 
the Republic, and his genius and valor were rewarded with a 
fame which rests securely upon the laurels of Monterey and 
Buena Vista. 

Jefferson Davis is a born soldier. Even if we could forget 
the glories of the as.sault upon Tcncria and El Diablo, and 
banish the thrilling recollection of that movement at Buena 
Yista, the genius, novelty, and intrepidity of wliich electrified 
the world of military science, and extorted the enthusiastic 
admiration of the victor of AVaterloo, we must yet recognize 
the impress of those rare gifts and graces which are the titles 
to authority. The erect yet easy carriage, the true martial 
dignity of bearing, which is altogether removed from the 
4 



^ 



§0 JAFE OF iEFFKLiaoy: DAVIS. 

supercilious hauteur of the mere martinet, the ahnost fascinat- 
ino- expression of suaviter in modo, which yet does not for an 
instant conceal the fortiter in re, constitute in him that imperial 
semblance, to which the mind involuntarily concedes the right 
to supreme command. It is impossible, in the presence of 
Mr. Davis, to deny this recognition of his intuitive soldier- 
ship. Not only is obvious to the eye the commanding mien 
of the soldier, but the order, the discipline of the educated sol- 
dier, whose nature, stern and unflinching, was yet plastic to 
receive the impressions of an art with which it felt an intuitive 
alliance. This military precision is characteristic of Mr. Davis 
in every aspect in which he appears. There is the constant 
fixedness of gaze upon the object to be reached, and the cau- 
tious calculation of the chances of success with the means and 
forces ready at hand; a constant regard for bases of supply 
and a proper concern for lines of retreat, and, above all, the 
prompt and vigorous execution, if success be pra;cticable and 
the attack determined upon. Even in his oratory and states- 
manship are these characteristics evinced. In the former there 
is far more of rhetorical order, harmony, and symmetry, than 
of rhetorical ornament and display ; and in the latter there is 
purpose, consistency, and method, with little regard for the 
shifts of expediency and the suggestions of hap-hazard te- 
merity. 

The attachment of Mr. Davis for the profession of arms is 
' little less than a passion — an inspiration. True, he volunta- 
rily abandoned the army, at an age when military life is most 
attractive to men, but the field of politics was far more invit- 
ing to a commendable aspiration for fame, than the army at a 
season of profound peace. But a more jjotent consideration, 
of a domestic nature, urged his withdrawal from military life. 



CJOLONEI. OF VOr.UJSTJKERS. 51 

He -vvfls about to be married, and preferred not to remain in 
the army after having assumed the responsibilities of that 
relation. His speeclies in the House of Representatives, in- 
dicating his earnest interest in military affairs, his solicitude 
in behalf of the army, his enthusiastic championship of the 
Military Academy, and his thorough information respecting 
all subjects pertaining to the military interests of the country, 
show his ambitious and absorbing study of his favorite science. 

In common with an overwhelming majority of the Southern 
people, he had favored the annexation of Texas, and cordially 
sustained Mr. Polk's Administration, in all the measures which 
were necessary to the triumphant success of its policy. While 
in the midst of his useful labors, as a member of Congress, in 
promoting the war policy of the Government, he received, with 
delight, the announcement of his selection to the command of 
the First Regiment of Mississippi Volunteers. He immedi- \ 
ately resigned his seat in Congress and started to take com- \ 
mand of his regiment, after obtaining for it, with great diffi- l^ 
culty, the rifles which were afterwards used with such deadly | 
effect upon the enemy. Overtaking his men, who were already \ 
en route for the scene of action, at New Orleans, by midsum- \ 
mer he had reinforced General Taylor on the Rio Grande. 

The incidents of the Mexican war are too fresh in the rec- 
ollection of the country to justify here a detailed narrative of 
the operations of the gallant army of General Taylor in its 
progress toward the interior from the scenes of its splendid 
exploits at Palo Alto and Resaca de la Palma. For several 
weeks after the arrival of Colonel Davis and his ^Iississip[)i- 
ans, active hostilities were suspended. When the preparations 
for the campaign were completed, the army advanced, and 
reached Walnut Springs, about three miles from Monterey, 



62 LIFE OF JEFFERSON DAVIS. 

on the 19th of September, 1846. Two days afterwards began 
those series of actions which finally resulted in the capitula- 
tion of a fortified city of great strength, and defended with 
obstinate valor. Of the part borne in these brilliant opera- 
tions which so exalted the glory of the American name, and 
immortalized the heroism of Southern volunteers, by Colonel 
Davis and his " Mississippi Rifles," an able and graphic pen 
shall relate the story : 

" In the storming of Monterey, Colonel Davis and his rifle- 
men played a most gallant part. The storming of one of its 
strongest forts (Teneria) on the 21st of September was a des- 
perate and hard-fought fight. The Mexicans had dealt such 
death by their cross-fires that they ran up a new flag in exul- 
tation, and in defiance of the assault which, at this time, was 
being made in front and rear. The Fourth Infantry, in the 
advance, had been terribly cut up, but the Mississippians and 
Tennesseeans steadily pressed forward, under a galling fire of 
copper grape. They approached to within a hundred yards 
of the fort, when they were lost in a volume of smoke. Mc- 
Clung,* inciting a company which formerly had been under 
his command, dashed on, followed by Captain Willis. An- 
ticipating General Quitman, Colonel Davis, about the same 
time, gave the order to charge. With wild desperation, his 
men followed him. The escalade was made with the fury of 
a tempest, the men flinging themselves upon the guns of the 
enemy. Sword in hand, jNIcClung has sprung over the ditch. 
After him dashes Davis, cheering on the Mississippians, and 
then Campbell, with his Tennesseeans and others, brothers in 
the fight, and rivals for its honors. Then was wild work. 
The assault was irresistible. The ISIcxicans, terror-strickei 
* Lieutenant-Colonel A. K McClunfr. 



MONTEREY. 53 

fled like an Alpine village from the avalanche, and, taking 
position in a strongly-fortitied building, some seventy-live 
yards in the rear, opened a heavy fire of musketry. But, 
like their mighty river, nothing could stay the Mississippians. 
They are after the Mexicans. Davis and McClung are simul- 
taneously masters of the fortifications, having got in by diiier- 
ent entrances. In the fervor of victory the brigade does not 
halt, but, led on by Colonel Davis, are preparing to charge 
on the second post, (El Diablo,) about three hundred yards 
in the rear, when they are restrained by Quitman. This 
desperate conflict lasted over two hours. The charge of the 
ISIississippi Rifle Regiment, without bayonets, upon Fort Ten- 
eria, gained for the State a triumph which stands unparal- 
leled. 

"Placed in possession of El Diablo, on the dawn of the 
23d Colonel Davis was exposed to a sharp fire from a half- 
moon redoubt, about one hundred and fifty yards distant, 
which was connected with heavy stone buildings and walls 
adjoining a block of the city. Returning the fire, he pro- 
ceeded, with eight men, to reconnoitre the ground in advance. 
Having reported, he was ordered, with three companies of 
his regiment and one of Tennesseejms, to advance on the 
works. 

" When they reached the half-moon work a tremendous fire 
was opened from the stone buildings in the rear. Taking a 
less-exposed position, Davis was reinforced, and, the balance 
of the Mississippians coming up, the engagement became gen- 
eral in the street, while, from the house-tops, a heavy fire was 
kept up by the Mexicans. ' The gallant Davis, leading the 
advance with detached parties, was rapidly entering the city, 
penetrating into buildings, and gradually driving the enemy 



54 LIFE OF JEFFERSON DAVIS. 

from the position/ when General Henderson and the Texan 
Rangers dismounted, entered the city, and, through musketry 
and grape, made their way to the advance. The conflict in- 
creased, and still Davis continued to lead his command through 
the streets to within a square of the Grand Plaza, when, the 
afternoon being far advanced. General Taylor withdrew the 
Americans to the captured forts."* 

Thus, in their first engagement, the Mississippians and their 
commander achieved a reputation which shall endure so long 
as men commemorate deeds of heroism and devotion. Veteran 
troops, trained to despise death by the dangers of a score of 
battles, have been immortalized in song and story for exploits 
jnferior to those of the "Mississippi Rifles" at Monterey. 
Colonel Davis became one of the idols of the array, and took 
a prominent place among the heroes of the war. The nation 
rang with the fame of " Davis and his Mississippi Rifles ; " 
the journals of the day were largely occupied with graphic 
descriptions of their exploits ; and the reports of superior offi- 
cers contributed their proud testimony to the history of the 
country, to the chivalrous daring and consummate skill of 
Colonel Davis. A becoming acknowledgment of his conduct 
was made by General Taylor in assigning him a j)lace on the 
commission of officers appointed to arrange with the Mexicans 
the terms of capitulation. The result of the negotiations, 

*For this spirited account of the operations of the Mississippi regiment 
at Monterey, the author is indebted to a sketch of Mr. Davis in Mr. John 
Savage's "Living Representative Men," which was published a year or 
two prior to the war. Though having several other accounts, possibly 
more complete, I have selected this as the -most graphic. The author 
readily acknowledges the assistance which he has derived from the work 
of Mr. Savage. 



BUENA VISTA. 55 

though approved by General Taylor, was not approved by 
the Administration, which ordered a termination of the arm- 
istice agreed upon by the commissioners from the respective 
armies and a speedy resumption of hostilities. The terms of 
capitulation were assailed by many, who thought them too 
lenient to the Mexicans; among others, by General Quitman, 
the warm, personal, and political friend of Colonel Davis. A 
very important portion of the history of the war consists of 
the latter's defense of the terms of surrender and his memo- 
randa of the incidents occurring in the conferences with the 
Mexican officers. 

To sustain the proud prestige of Monterey — if possible to 
surpass it, became henceforth the aspiration of the Mississip- 
pians. But the name of Mississippi was to be made radiant 
with a new glory, beside which the lustre of Monterey paled, 
as did the dawn of Lodi by the full-orbed splendor of Auster- 
litz. All the world knows of the conduct of Jefferson Davis 
at Buena Vista. How he virtually won a battle, which, con- 
sidering the disparity of the contending forces, must forever 
be a marvel to the student of military science ; how like Des- 
saix, at Marengo, he thwight there was " still time to win an- 
other battle," even when a portion of our line was broken and 
in inglorious retreat, and acting upon the impulse rescued 
victory from the jaws of defeat ; saving an army from destruc- 
tion, and flooding Avith a blaze of triumph a field shrouded 
with the gloom of disaster, are memories forever enshrined in ^ 
the Temple of Fame. Americans can never weary of listen- J— 
ing to the thrilling incidents of that ever-memorable day. By » 
the South, the lesson of Buena Vista and kindred scenes of 
the valor of her children, can never be forgotton. In these 
days of her humiliation and despair, their proud memories 



56 T.iFE OF jp:fferson i>ayis. 

throng upon her, as do a thousand noble emotions upon the 
__modern Greek, who stands upon the sacred ground of Mara- 
thon and Pisetea. 

The following vivid and powerful description of the more 
prominent incidents of the battle is from the pen of Hon. J. F. 
H. Claiborne, of Mississippi : 

"The battle had been raging sometime with fluctuating for- 
tunes, and was setting against us, when General Taylor, with 
Colonel Davis and others, arrived on the field. Several regi- 
ments (which were subsequently rallied and fought bravely) 
were in full retreat. O'Brien, after having his men and horses 
completely cut up, had been compelled to draw off his guns, 
and Bragg, with almost superhuman energy, was sustaining 
the brunt of the fight. Many officers of distinction had fallen. 
Colonel Davis rode forward to examine the position of the 
enemy, and concluding that the best way to arrest our fugitives 
would be to make a bold demonstration, he resolved at once 
to attack the enemy, there posted in force, immediately in 
front, supported by cavalry, and two divisions in reserve iu 
his rear. It was a resolution bold almost to rashness, but the 
emergency was pressing. With a handful of Indiana volun- 
teers, who still stood by their brave old colonel (Bowles) and 
his own regiment, he advanced at double-quick time, firing as 
he advanced. His own brave fellows fell fast under the roll- 
ing musketry of the enemy, but their rapid and fatal volleys 
carried dismay and death into the adverse ranks. A deep 
ravine separated the combatants. Leaping into it, the Missis- 
sippians soon appeared on the other side, and with a shout that 
was heard over the battle-field, they poured in a well-directed 
fire, and rushed upon the enemy. Their deadly aim and wild 
enthusiasm were irresistible. The Mexicans fled in confusion 



A SriRlTED DEHCnirTION. 57 

to tlioir reserves, and Davis seized the commanding position 
thov had occupied. He next fell upon a party of cavalry and 
compelled it to fly, with the loss of their leader and other 
officers. Immediately afterwards a brigade of lancers, one 
thousand strong, were seen approaching at a gallop, in beauti- 
ful array, with sounding bugles and fluttering pennons. It was 
an appalling spectacle, but not a man flinched from his posi- 
tion. The time between our devoted band and eternity seemed 
brief indeed. But conscious that the eye of the army was 
uj)on them, that the honor of Mississippi was at stake, and 
knowing that, if they gave way, or were ridden down, our un- 
protected batteries in the rear, upon which the fortunes of the 
day depended, would be captured, each man resolved to die in 
his place sooner than retreat. Not the Spartan martyrs at 
Thermopylae — not the sacred battalion of Epaminondas — not 
the Tenth Legion of Julius Ceesar — not the Old Guard of Xa- 
poleon — ever evinced more fortitude than these young volun- 
teers in a crisis when death seemed inevitable. They stood 
like statues, as fr'nnd and motionless as the marble itself. 
Impressed with this extraordinary firmness, when they had 
anticipated panic and flight, the lancers advanced more delib- 
erately, as though they saw, for the first time, the dark shadow 
of the fate that was impending over them. Colonel Davis had 
thrown his men into the form of a reentering angle, (familiarly 
known as his famous V movement,) both flanks resting on 
ravines, the lancers coming down on the intervening ridge. 
This exposed them to a converging fire, and the moment they 
came within rifle range each man singled out his object, and 
the whole head of the column fell. A more deadly fire never 
Avas delivered, and the brilliant array recoiled and retreated, 
paralyzed and dismayed. 



\ 



OS LIFE OF JEFFEESON DAVIS. 

" Shortly afterwards the Mexicans, having concentrated a 
large force on the right for their final attack, Colonel Davis 
was ordered in that direction. His regiment had been in 
action all day, exhausted by thirst and fatigue, much reduced 
by the carnage of the morning engagement, and many in the 
ranks suffering from wounds, yet the noble fellows moved at 
double-quick time. Bowles' little band of Indiana volun- 
teers still acted with thera. After marching several hundred 
yards they perceived the Mexican infantry advancing, in three 
Tines, upon Bragg's battery, which, though entirely unsup- 
ported, held its position with a resolution worthy of his fame. 
The pressure upon him stimulated the Mississippians. They 
increased their speed, and when the enemy were within one 
hundred yards of the battery and confident of its capture, they 
took him in flank and reverse, and poured in a raking and 
destructive fire. This broke his right line, and the rest soon 
gave way and fell back precipitately. Here Colonel Davis 
was severely wounded." 

The wound here alluded to was from a musket ball in the 
heel, and was exceedingly painful, though Colonel Davis re- 
fused to leave the field until the action was over. For some 
time grave apprehensions were entertained lest it should prove 
dangerous by the setting in of erysipelas. 

General Taylor, who was deeply impressed with the large 
share of credit due to Colonel Davis, in his official report of 
the battle, says: "The Mississippi Riflemen, under Colonel 
Davis, were highly conspicuous for their gallantry and steadi- 
ness, and sustained throughout the engagement, the reputation 
of veteran troops. Brought into action against an immensely 
superior force, they maintained themselves for a long time, un- 
supported and with heavy loss, and held an important part of 



DA vis' KErORT OF THE BATTLE. 59 

the field until reinforced. Colonel Davis, though severely 
wounded, remained in the saddle until the close of the action. 
His distinguished coolness and gallantry, at the head of his 
regiment on this day, entitle him to the particular notice of 
the Government." 

The report of Colonel Davis, of the operations of his regi- 
ment, is highly important as a description of the most im- 
portant features of the action, and as an explanation of his 
celebrated strategic movement. We omit such portions as em- 
brace mere details not relevant to our purpose. 

"Saltillo, Mexico, 2(1 March, 1847. 

" Sir : In compliance with your note of yesterday, I have 
the honor to present the following report of the service of the 
Mississippi Riflemen on the 23d ultimo : 

" Early in the morning of that day the regiment was drawn 
out from the head-quarters encampment, which stood in advance 
of and overlooked the town of Saltillo. Conformably to in- 
structions, two companies were detached for the protection of 
that encampment, and to defend the adjacent entrance of the 
town. The remaining eight companies were put in march to 
return to the position of the preceding day, now known as the 
battle-field of Buena Vista. AVe had approached to within 
about two miles of that position, when the report of artillery 
firing, which reached us, gave assurance that a battle had com- 
menced. Excited by the sound, the regiment pressed rapidly 
forward, manifesting, upon this, as upon other occasions, their 
more than willingness to meet the enemy. At the first con- 
venient place the column was halted for the purpose of filling 
their canteens with water; and the march being resumed, was 
directed toward the position which had been indicated to me, 



60 JEFFERSON DAVIS. 

on the previous evening, as the post of our regiment. As we 
approached the scene of action, horsemen, recognized as of our 
troops, were seen running, dispersed and confusedly from tlie 
field; and our first view of the line of battle presented the 
mortifying spectacle of a regiment of infantry flying disor- 
ganized from before the enemy. These sights, so well calcu- 
lated to destroy confidence and dispirit troops just coming into 
action, it is my pride and pleasure to believe, only nerved the 
resolution of the regiment I have the honor to command. 

" Our order of march was in column of companies, advancing 
by their centers. The point which had just been abandoned 
by the regiment alluded to, was now taken as our direction. I 
rode forward to examine the ground upon which we were going 
to operate, and in passing through the fugitives, appealed to 
them to return with us and renew the fight, pointing to our 
regiment as a mass of men behind which they might securely 
form. 

''With a few honorable exceptions, the appeal was as un- 
heeded, as were the offers which, I am informed, were made by 
our men to give their canteens of water to those who com- 
jjlained of thirst, on condition that they would go back. Gen- 
eral Wool was upon the ground making great efforts to rally 
the men who had given way. I approached him and asked if 
he would send another regiment to sustain me in an attack 
upon the enemy before us. He was alone, and, after promising 
the support, Avent in person to send it. Upon further examin- 
ation, I found that the slope we were ascending was intersected 
by a deep ravine, which, uniting obliquely wdth a still larger 
one on our right, formed between them a point of land diffi- 
cult of access by us, but which, spreading in a plain toward 
the base of the mountain, had easy communication with the 



COT.OXET. DA vis' RErOTlT. 61^ 

main body of the enemy. This position, important from its 
natural strength, derived a far greater vahie from the relation 
it bore to our order of battle and line of communication with 
the rear. The enemy, in number many times greater than our- 
selves, supported by strong reserves, flanked by cavalry and 
elated by recent success, was advancing upon it. The moment 
seemed to me critical and the occasion to require whatever sac- 
rifice it might cost to check the enemy. 

" My regiment, having continued to advance, was near at 
hand. I met and formed it rapidly into order of battle; the 
line then advanced in double-quick time, until within the esti- 
mated range of our rifles, when it was halted, and ordered to 
' fire advancing.' 

" The progress of the enemy was arrested. "We crossed the 
difficult chasm before us, under a galling fire, and in good 
order renewed the attack upon the other side. The contest 
was severe — the destruction great upon both sides. We steadily 
advanced, and, as the distance diminished, the ratio of loss in- 
creased rapidly against the enemy; he yielded, and was driven 
back on his reserves. A plain now lay behind us — the enemy's 
cavaliy had passed around our right flank, which rested on the 
main ravine, and gone to our rear. The support I had ex- 
pected to join us was nowhere to be seen. I therefore ordered 
the regiment to retire, and went in person to find the cavalry, 
which, after passing round our right, had been concealed by 
the inequality of the ground. I found them at the first point 
where the bank was practicable for horsemen, in the act of de- 
scending into the ravine — no doubt for the purpose of charging 
upon our rear. The nearest of our men ran quickly to my 
call, attacked this body, and dispersed it with some loss. I 
think their commander was among the killed. 



62 LIFE OF JEFFERSON DAVIS. 

"The regiment was formed again in line of battle behind the 
first ravine we had crossed; soon after which we were joined 
upon our left by Lieutenant Kilbourn, with a piece of light 
artillery, and Colonel Lane's (the Third) regiment of Indi- 
ana volunteers. . . . We had proceeded but a short distance 
when I saw a large body of cavalry debouche from his cover 
upon the left of the position from which we had retired, and 
advance rapidly upon us. The Mississippi regiment was filed 
to the right, and fronted in line across the plain; the Indiana 
regiment was formed on the bank of the ravine, in advance of 
our right flank, by which a reentering angle was presented to 
the enemy. Whilst this preparation was being made, Sergeant- 
Major Miller, of our regiment, was sent to Captain Sherman for 
one or more pieces of artillery from his battery. 

" The enemy, who was now seen to be a body of richly- 
caparisoned lancers, came forward rapidly, and in beautiful 
order — the files and ranks so closed as to look like a mass of 
men and horses. Perfect silence and the greatest steadiness 
prevailed in both lines of our troops, as they stood at shoul- 
dered arms waiting an attack. Confident of success, and anx- 
ious to obtain the full advantage of a cross-fire at a short 
distance, I repeatedly called to the men not to shoot. 

"As the enemy approached, his speed regularly diminished, 
until, when, within eighty or a hundred yards, he had drawn 
up to a walk, and seemed about to halt. A few files fired 
without orders, and both lines then instantly poured in a vol- 
ley so destructive that the mass yielded to the blow and the 

survivors fled At this time, the enemy made his 

last attack upon the right, and I received the General's order 
to march to that portion of the field. The broken character 
of the intervening ground concealed the scene of action from 



COLONEL DAVIs' REI'ORT. 63 

our view ; but the heavy firing of musketry formed a £ufficicnt 
guide for our course. After marching two or three hundred 
yards, we saw the enemy's infantry advancing in three lines 
upon Captain Bragg's battery; which, though entirely unsup- 
ported, resolutely held its position, and met the attack with a 
fire worthy the former achievements of that battery, and of the 
reputation of its present meritorious commander. AVe pressed 
on, climbed the rocky slope of the plain on which this combat 
occurred, reached its brow so as to take the enemy in flank 
and reverse when he was about one hundred yards from the 
battery. Our first fire — raking each of his lines, and opened 
close upon his flank — was eminently destructive. His right 
gave way, and he fled in confusion. 

" In this, the last contest of the day, my regiment equaled — 
it was impossible to exceed — my expectations. Though worn 
down by many hours of fatigue and thirst, the ranks thinned 
by our heavy loss in the morning, they yet advanced upon the 
enemy with the alacrity and eagerness of men fresh to the 
combat. In every approbatory sense of these remarks I wish 
to be included a party of Colonel Bowles' Indiana regiment, 
which served with us during the greater part of the day, un- 
der the immediate command of an officer from that regiment, 
whose gallantry attracted my particular attention, but whose 
name, I regret, is unknown to me. When hostile demonstra- 
tions had ceased, I retired to a tent upon the field for surgical 
aid, having been wounded by a musket ball when we first 
went into action Every part of the action hav- 
ing been fought under the eye of the commanding General, 
the importance and manner of any service it was our fortune 
to render, will be best estimated by him. But in view t)f my 
own responsibility, it may be permitted me to say, in relation 



64 LIFE OF JEFFEESOX DAVIS. 

to our first attack upon the enemy, that I considered the ne- 
cessity absolute and immediate. No one could have failed to 
perceive the hazard. The enemy, in greatly disproportionate 
numbers, was rapidly advancing. AYe saw no friendly troops 
coming to our support, and probably none except myself ex- 
pected reinforcement. Under such circumstances, the men 
cheerfully, ardently entered into the conflict; and though we 
lost, in that single engagement, more than thirty killed and 
forty wounded, the regiment never faltered nor moved, except 
as it was ordered. Had the expected reinforcement arrived, 
we could have prevented the enemy's cavalry from passing to 
our rear, results more decisive might have been obtained, and 

a part of our loss have been avoided 

"I have the honor to be, very respectfully, your obedient 
servant. "JEFFERSON DAVIS, 

'''Colonel Mississippi Rijles. 
"]\[ajor W. W. S. Bliss, Assistant AJjutant-GeneraV 

The reputation earned by Colonel Davis at Buena Vista 
could not fail to provoke the assaults of envy. An effort, 
equally unwarranted and unsuccessful, has since been made to 
deprive him of a portion of his merited fame of having con- 
ceived and executed a movement decisive of the battle. It has 
been pretended, in disparagement of the strategy of Colonel 
Davis, that his celebrated V movement (for so it is, and will 
always be known) had not the merit of originality, and be- 
sides was forced upon him by the circumstances in which he 
was placed, and especially by the conformation of the ground, 
which would not admit of a different disposition of his troops. 
Such a judgment is merely hypercritical. There is no account 
in military history, from the campaigns of Caesar to those of 
Napoleon, of such a tactical conception, unless we include a 



INTERESTING STATEMENT. 65 

slightly-analogous case at "Waterloo. The movement in the 
latter engagement, however, differs essentially from that exe- 
cuted by Davis at Buena Yista. A party of Hanoverian cav- 
alry, assailed by French huzzars, at the intersection of two 
roads, by forming a salient, repulsed their assailants almost as 
effectually as did the reentrant angle of the Mississippians at 
Buena Vista. As to the second criticism, it is certainly a 
novel accusation against an officer, that he should, by a quick 
appreciation of liis situation, avail himself of the only possible 
means by which he could not only extricate his own command 
from imminent peril of destruction, but also avert a blow de- 
livered at the safety of the entire army. 

In a lecture on "The Expatriated Irish in Europe and 
America," delivered in Boston, February 11, 1858, the Hon. 
Caleb Gushing thus alludes to this subject : " In another of 
the dramatic incidents of that field, a man of Celtic race (Jef- 
ferson Davis) at the head of the Eiflcs of Mississippi, had 
ventured to do that of which there is, perhaps, but one other 
example in the military history of modern times. In the des- 
perate conflicts of the Crimea, at the battle of Inkermann, in 
one of those desperate charges, there was a British officer who 
ventured to receive the charge of the enemy without the pre- 
caution of having his men formed in a hollow square. They 
were dra-wn up in two lines, meeting at a point like an open 
fan, and received the charge of the Russians at the muzzle of 
their guns, and repelled it. Sir Colin Campbell, for this feat 
of arms, among others, was selected as the man to retrieve the 
fallen fortunes of England in India. He did, however, but 
imitate what Jefferson Davis had previously done in IMexico, 
who, in that trying hour, when, with one last desperate effort 
to break the line of the American army, the cavalry of Mex- 



66 LIFE OF JEFFERSON DAVIS. 

ico was concentrated in one charge against the American line ; 
then, I say, Jefferson Davis commanded his men to form in 
two lines, extended as I have shown, and receive that charge 
of the Mexican horse, with a phinging fire from the right and 
left from the Mississippi Rifles, which repelled, and repelled 
for the last time, the charge of the hosts of Mexico." 

These puerile criticisms, however, were unavailing against 
the concurrent testimony of Taylor, Quitman, and Lane, and 
the grateful plaudits of the army, to shake the popular judg- 
ment, which rarely fails, in the end, to discriminate between 
the false glare of cheaply-earned glory and the j ust renown of 
true heroism. 

The term of enlistment of his regiment having expired, 
Colonel Davis, in July, 1847, just twelve months after the 
resignation of his seat in the House of Representatives, re- 
turned to the United States. His progress toward his home 
was attended by a series of congratulatory receptions, the 
people every-where assembling en masse to do honor to the 
" Hero of Buena Vista." Mississippi extended a triumphant 
greeting to her soldier-statesman, who, resigning the civio 
trust which she had confided to his keeping, had carried her 
flag in triumph amid the thunders of battle and the wastes 
of carnage, carving the name of Mississippi in an inscription 
of enduring renown. 

During his journey homeward, there occurred a most im- 
pressive illustration of that strict devotion to principle which, 
above all other considerations, is the real solution of every act 
of his life, public and private. While in New Orleans, Col- 
onel Davis was offered, by President Polk, a commission as 
Brigadier-General of Volunteers, an honor which he unhesitat- 
ingly declined, on the ground that no such commission could 



DECLINES PROMOTION'. 67 

be conferred by Federal authority, either by appointment of 
the President or by act of Congress. As an advocate of States' 
Rights, he could not countenance, even for the gratification of 
his own ambition, a plain infraction of the rights of the States, 
to which respectively, the Constitution reserves the appoint- 
ment of officers of the militia.* The soldier's pride in de- 
served promotion for distinguished services, could not induce 
the statesman to forego his convictions of Constitutional right. 
The declination of this high distinction was entirely consistent 
with his opinions previously entertained and expressed. Be- 
fore he resigned his seat in the House of Representatives, the 
bill authorizing such appointments by the President was in- 
troduced, and rapidly pressed to its passage. Mr. Davis de- 
tected the Constitutional infraction which it involved, and 
opposed it. He designed to address the House, but was sud- 
denly called away from Washington, and before leaving had 
an understanding with the Chairman of the Committee from 
which the bill had come, that it would not be called up before 
the ensuing Monday. On his return, however, he found that 
the friends of the measure had forced its passage on the pre- 
vious Saturday. 

This is but one in a thousand evidences of an incorruptible 
loyalty to his convictions, which would dare face all opposi- 
tion and has braved all reproach. It is an attribute of true 
greatness in the character of Jeiferson Davis, which not even 
his enemies have called in question, to which candor must 
ever accord the tribute of infinite admiration. 

* This Constitutional question was again raised by yir. Davis, while 
President of the Confederacy, and his action with reference to similar 
legislation by the Confederate Congress, was in entire accordance with 
the reason assigned for declining Mr. Polk's appointment. 



68 LIFE OF JEFFERSON DAVIS. 



CHAPTER IV. 

MR. DAVIS IN THE TTNITED STATES SENATE, FIRST BY EXECUTIVE APPOINTMENT, 
AND SUBSEQUENTLY BY UNANIMOUS CHOICE OF THE LEGISLATURE OF HIS 
STATE — POPULAR ADMIRATION NOT LESS FOR HIS CIVIC TALENTS THAN HIS 
MILITARY SERVICES — FEATURES OF HIS PUBLIC CAREER — HIS CHARACTER 
AND CONDUCT AS A SENATOR — AS AN ORATOR AND PARLIAMENTARY LEADER 

HIS INTREPIDITY — AN INCIDENT WITH HENRY CLAY — DAVIS THE LEADER 

OF THE states' RIGHTS PARTY IN CONGRESS — THE AGITATION OF 1850 — 
DAVIS OPPOSES THE COMPROMISE — FOLLY OF THE SOUTH IN ASSENTING TO 
THAT SETTLEMENT — DAVIS NOT A DISUNIONIST IN 1850, NOR A REBEL IN 
1861 — HIS CONCEPTION OF THE CHARACTER OF THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT 

LOGICAL ABSURDITY OF CLAY's POSITION EXPOSED BY DAVIS — THE IDEAL 

UNION OP THE LATTER — WHY HE OPPOSED THE COMPROMISE — THE NEW 
MEXICO BILL — DAVIs' GROWING FAME AT THIS PERIOD — HIS FREQUENT EN- 
COUNTERS WITH CLAY, AND WARM FRIENDSHIP BETWEEN THEM — SIGNAI. 
TRIUMPH OF THE UNION SENTIMENT, AND ACQUIESCENCE OF THE SOUTH. 

WITHIN less than two months from his return to Mis- 
sissippi, Colonel Davis was appointed by the Governor 
of the State to fill the vacancy in the United States Senate 
occasioned by the death of General Speight. At a subsequent 
session of the Legislature, the selection of the Governor was 
confirmed by his unanimous election for the residue of the 
unexpired term. Seldom has there been a tender of public 
honor more deserved by the recipient, and more cheerfully 
accorded by the constituent body. It was the grateful trib- 
ute of popular appreciation to the hero who had risked his 
life for the glory of his country, and the worthy recognition 



POPULAR FAVOR. 69 

of abilities which had been proven adequate to the responsi- 
bilities of the highest civic trust. Doubtless Colonel Davis 
owed much of the signal unanimity and enthusiasm which 
accompanied this expression of popular favor to his brilliant 
services in Mexico. The military passion is strong in the hu- 
man breast, and the sentiment of homage to prowess, illustrated 
on the battle-field and in the face of danger, is one of the few 
chivalrous instincts which survive the influence of the sordid 
vices and vulgarisms of human nature. In all ages men have 
declaimed and reasoned against the expediency of confiding 
civil authority to the keeping of soldiers, and have cautioned 
the masses against the risk of entrusting tbe public liberties 
to the stern and dictatorial will educated in the rugged dis- 
cipline and habits of the camp. Yet the masses, in all time, 
will continue their awards of distinction to martial exploits 
with a fervor not characteristic of their recognition of any 
other public service. 

But the tribute had a higher motive, if possible, than the 
generous impulse of gratitude to the " Hero of Buena Vista," 
in the universal conviction of his eminent fitness for the posi- 
tion. His service in the House of Representatives, brief as it 
was, had designated him, months before his Mexican laurels 
had been earned, as a man, not only of mark, but of promise ; 
of decided and progressive intellectual power ; of pronounced 
mental and moral individuality. 

Of all the public men of America, Jefferson Davis is the 
least indebted for his long and noble career of distinction to 
adventitious influences or merely temporary popular impulses. 
The sources of his stren<rth have been the elements of his 
character and the resources of his genius. Never hoping to 
stumble upon success, by a stolid indifference amid the flue- 



70 LIFE OF JEFFEESON DAVIS. 

tuations of fortune, nor engaged in the role of the trimmer, 
who adjusts his conduct conformably with every turn of the 
popular current, his hopes of success have rested upon the 
merits of principle alone. He has succeeded in all things 
where success was possible, and failed, at last, in contradiction 
of every lesson of previous experience, with the light of all 
history pleading his vindication, and to the disappointment 
of the nearly unanimous judgment of disinterested mankind. 
A peculiar feature in the public career of Mr. Davis was 
its steady and consecutive development. He has accepted 
service, always and only, in obedience to the concurrent con- 
fidence of his fellow-citizens in his peculiar qualifications for 
the emergency. From the beginning he gave the promise 
of those high capacities which the fervid eulogy of Grattan 
accorded to Chatham — to "strike a blow in the world that 
should resound through its history." His first election to 
Congress was the spontaneous acknowledgment of the pro- 
found impression produced by his earliest intellectual efforts. 
The consummate triumph of his genius and valor at Buena 
Vista did not exceed the anticipations of his friends, who 
knew the ardor and assiduity of his devotion to his cherished 
science, and now in the noble arena of the American Senate 
his star was still to be in the ascendant. 

At the first session of the Thirtieth Congress, JefPerson 
Davis took his seat as a Senator of the United States from 
the State of Mississippi. The entire jieriod of his connection 
with the Senate, from 1847 to 1851, and from 1857 to 1861, 
scarcely comprises eight years; but those were years pregnant 
with the fate of a nation, and in their brief progress he stood 
in that august body the equal of giant intellects, and grap- 
pled, with the power and skill of a master, the great ideas 



UNITED STATES SENATOR. 71 

and events of those momentous days. Mr. Davis could safely- 
trust, whatever of ambition he may cherish for the distin- 
guished consideration of posterity, to a faithful record of his 
service in the Senate. His senatorial fame is a beautiful har- 
mony of the most pronounced and attractive features of the 
best parliamentary models. He was as intrepid and defiant 
as Chatham, but as scholarly as Brougham ; as elegant and 
perspicuous in diction as Canning, and often as profound and 
philosophical in his comprehension of general principles as 
Burke; when roused by a sense of injury, or by the force of 
his earnest conviction, as much the incarnation of fervor and 
zeal as Grattan, but, like Fox, subtle, ready, and always armed 
cap a pie for the quick encounters of debate. 

Amono; all the eminent associates of Mr. Davis in that bodv, 
there were very few who possessed his peculiar qualifications 
for its most distinguished honors. His character, no less than 
his demeanor, may be aptly termed senatorial, and his bearing 
>vas always attuned to his noble conception of the Senate as 
an august assemblage of the embassadors of sovereign States. 
He carried to the Senate the loftiest sense of the dignity and 
responsibility of his trust, and convictions upon political ques- 
tions, which were the result of the most thorough and elaborate 
investigation. Never for one instant varying from the princi- 
ples of his creed, he never doubted as to the course of duty ; 
profound, accurate in information, there was no question per- 
tainins: to the science of government or its administration that 
he did not illuminate with a light, clear, powerful, and orig- 
inal. 

It has been remarked of Mr. Davis' style as a speaker, that 
it is " orderly rather than ornate," and the remark is correct 
60 far as it relates to the mere statement of the conditions 



72 LIFE OF JEFFEKSON DAVIS. 

of the discussion. For mere rhetorical glitter, Mr. Davis' 
speeches afford but poor models, but for clear logic and con- 
vincing argument, apt illustration, bold and original imagery, 
and genuine pathos, they are unsurpassed by any ever deliv- 
ered in the American Senate. Though the Senate was, un- 
doubtedly, his appropriate arena as an orator, and though it 
may well be doubted whether he was rivaled in senatorial 
eloquence by any contemporary, Mr. Davis is hardly less gifted 
in the attributes of popular eloquence. Upon great occasions 
he will move a large crowd with an irresistible power. As a 
popular orator, he does not seek to sway and toss the will Avith 
violent and passionate emotion, but his eloquence is more a 
triumph of argument aided by an enlistment of passion and 
persuasion to reason and conviction. He has less of the char- 
acteristics of Mirabeau, than of that higher type of eloquence, 
of which Cicero, Burke, and George Canning were representa- 
tives, and Avhich is pervaded by passion, subordinated to the 
severer tribunal of intellect. It was the privilege of the 
writer, on repeated occasions, during the late war, to witness 
the triumph of Mr, Davis' eloquence over a popular assem- 
blage. Usually the theme and the occasion were worthy of 
the orator, and difficult indeed would it be to realize a nobler 
vision of the majesty of intellect. To a current of thought, 
perennial and inexhaustible, compact, logical and irresistible, 
was added a fire that threw its warmth into the coldest bosom, 
and infused a glow of light into the very core of the subject. 
His voice, flexible and articulate, reaching any compass that 
was requisite, attitude and gestures, all conspired to give power 
and expression to his language, and the hearer was impressed 
as though in the presence of the very transfiguration of elo- 
quence. The printed efforts of Mr. Davis will not only live 



AS A PARLIAXIENTARY LEADER. 73 

as memorials of parliamentary and popular eloquence, but as 
invaluable stores of information to the political and historical 
student. They epitomize some of the most important peri- 
ods of American history, and embrace the amplest discussion 
of an extended range of subjects pertaining to almost every 
science. 

The development in Mr. Davis of the high and rare quali- 
ties, requisite to parliamentary leadership, was rapid and deci- 
sive. His nature instinctively aspires to influence and power, 
and under no circumstances could it rest contented in an atti- 
tude of inferiority. Independence, originality, and intrepidity, 
added to earnest and intelligent conviction ; unwavering devo- 
tion to principle and purpose ; a will stern and inexorable, and 
a disposition frank, courteous, and generous, are features of 
character which rarely fail to make a representative man. 
After the death of Mr. Calhoun, he was incomparably the 
ablest exponent of States' Rights principles, and even during 
the life of that great publicist, Mr. Davis, almost equally with 
him, shared the labors and responsibilities of leadership. His 
personal courage is of that knightly order, which in an age of 
chivalry would have sought the trophies of the tourney, and 
his moral heroism fixed him immovably upon the solid rock 
of principle, indifferent to the inconvenience of being in a 
minority and in no dread of the storms of popular passion. 
His faith in his principles was no less earnest than his confi- 
dence in his ability to triumphantly defend them. In the 
midst of the agitation and excitement of 1850, Henry Clay, 
the Great Compromiser, whose brilliant but erring genius so 
long and fatally led estray, from the correct understanding of 
the vital issue at stake between the North and the South, a 
numerous party of noble and true-hearted Southern gentle- 



74 Life of jefferSon da vis. • 

men, furnished the occasion of an imj^ressive illustration of 
this quality. Turning, in debate, to the Mississippi Sena- 
tor, he notified the latter of his purpose, at some future day, 
to debate with him elaborately, an important question of prin- 
ciple. "Now is the moment," was the reply of the intrepid 
Davis, ever eager to champion his beloved and imperiled 
South, equally against her avowed enemies, and the not less 
fatal policy of those who were but too willing to comj)romise 
upon an issue vital to her rights and dignity. And what a 
shock of arms might then have been witnessed, could Clay 
have dispelled thirty years of his ripe three-score and ten ! 
Each would have found a foeman worthy of his steel. In an- 
s^ver to this bold defiance. Clay, like Hotspur, would have 
rushed to the charge, with visor up and lance couchant; and 
Davis, another Saladin, no less frank than his adversary, but 
far more dexterous, would have met him with a flash of that 
Damascus scymetar, whose first blow severed the neck of the 
foeman. 

That would have been a bold ambition that could demand 
a formal tender of leadership from the brilliant array of gal- 
lant gentlemen, ripe scholars, distinguished orators and states- 
men, who, for twenty years before the war, were the valiant 
champions in Congress of the principles and aspirations of the 
South. Yet few will deny the preeminence of ISIr. Davis, in 
the eye of the country and the world, among States' Rights 
leaders. Equally with Mr. Calhoun, as the leader of a great 
intellectual movement, he stamped his impress upon the en- 
during tablets of time. 

Like Mr. Calhoun, too, Mr. Davis gave little evidence of 
capacity or taste for mere party tactics. Neither would have 
performed the duties of drill-sergeant, in local organizations, 



VIEWS UPON PUBLIC AFFAIRS. 7^ 

for the purposes of a political canvass, so well as hundreds 
of men of far lighter calibre and less stability. Happily, both 
sought and found a more congenial field of action. 

The unexpired terra, for which Mr. Davis had been elected 
in 1847, ended in 1851, and, though he was immediately re- 
elected, in consequence of his subsequent resignation his first 
service in the Senate ended with the term for which he had 
first been elected. A recurrence to the records of Congress will 
exhibit the eventful nature of this period, especially in its con- 
clusion. In the earlier portion of his senatorial service, Mr. 
Davis participated conspicuously in debate and in the general 
business of legislation. Here, as in the House of Representa- 
tives, his views upon military affairs were always received with 
marked res|)ect, and no measure looking to the improvement 
of the army failed to receive his cordial cooperation. 

The extensive conquests of the army in Mexico, and the 
necessity of maintaining the authority of the Federal Govern- 
ment in the conquered country until the objects of the war 
could be consummated, created considerable embarrassment. 
Upon this subject Mr. Davis spoke frequently and intelli- 
gently. His sagacity indicated a policy equally protective of 
the advantages which the valor of the army had achieved, 
and humane to the conquered. In a debate with Mr. John 
Bell, in February, 1848, he defined himself as favoring such 
a military occupation as would " prevent the General Gov- 
ernment of Mexico, against which this war had been directed, 
from reestablishing its power and again concentrating the scat- 
tered fragments of its army to renew active hostilities against 
us." He disclaimed the motive, in this policy, of territorial 
acquisition, and earnestly deprecated interference with the po- 
litical institutions of the Mexicans. The estimate entertained 



76 LIFE OF JEFFERSON DAVIS. 

by the Senate, of his judgment and information upon military 
subjects, was indicated by his almost unanimous election, (thii'ty- 
two for Mr. Davis, and five for all others,) during the session of 
the Thirty-first Congress, as Chairman of the Committee on 
Military Afiairs. His speeches on the subject of offering con- 
gratulations to the French people upon their recent successful 
political revolution, resulting in the establishment of a repub- 
lican form of government, the proposed organization of the 
territorial government of Oregon, upon various subjects of 
practical and scientific interest, and his incidental discussions 
of the subject of slavery, were able, eloquent, and character- 
istic. 

The session of Congress in 1849 and 1850 brought with it 
a most angry and menacing renewal of sectional agitation. 
Previous events and innumerable indications of popular sen- 
timent had clearly revealed to candid minds, everj^-where, that 
the increasing sectional preponderance of the North, and its 
growing hostility to slavery, portended results utterly ruinous 
to the rights and institutions of the South. To the South it was 
literally a question of vitality, to secure some competent check 
upon the aggressive strength of the North. To maintain any 
thing like a sectional balance, the South must necessarily se- 
cure to her institutions, at least, a fair share of the common 
domain to be hereafter created into States. The immense terri- 
torial acquisitions resulting from the Mexican war were now 
the subjects of controversy. After a contest, protracted through 
several months, and eliciting the most violent exhibitions of 
sectional feeling, a plan of adjustment, under the auspices 
chiefly of Henry Clay, whose fatal gift was to preserve, for 
a time, the peace of the country by the concession of the most 
precious and vital rights of his section to an insolent and in- 



COMPROMISE OF 1850. 77 

satiate fanaticism, was finally reached. This settlement, known, 
by way of distinction, as the " Compromise of 1850," averting 
for the time the dangers of disunion and civil war, met the 
approval of the advocates of expediency, but was opposed, with 
heroic pertinacity, by Mr. Davis and his associates of the States' 
Rights party. They saw the hollowness of its pretended just- 
ice, its utter worthlessness as a guarantee to the South, and 
sought to defeat it — first in Congress, and afterwards by the 
popular voice. But the sentiment of attachment to the Union 
triumphed over every consideration of interest, principle, even 
security, and the snare succeeded. Again the South receded, 
again received the stone instead of the askcd-for loaf, and again 
did she compromise her most sacred rights and dearest interests, 
receiving, in return, the reluctant and insincere guarantee of 
the recovery of her stolen slaves. ^ 

The folly of the South in assenting to this adjustment is 
now obvious to the dullest understanding, and subsequent 
events were swift to vindicate the wisdom, patriotism, and 
foresight of Mr. Davis and those who sustained him in oppo- 
sition to the much- vaunted Union -saving compromise. Yet, 
they were no more disunionists in 1850 than rebels and trai- 
tors in 1861. The charge of disunionism was freely iterated 
against them, and not without effect, even in their own section, 
where the sentimental attachment to the Union was stronger, 
just as its sacrifices in behalf of the Union were greater, than 
those of the North. Jefferson Davis never was a disunionist, 
not even in his subsequent approval of secession, in the sense 
of a wanton and treasonable disposition to sever the bonds of 
that association of co-equal sovereignties which the founders 
of the Federal Government bequeathed to their posterity. 

His action, at all times, has been thoroughly consistent with 



78 JAhK OF JKFFKKWl^N 1>AVJS. 

his declared opinions, and with the earnest attachment to the 
Union, avowed in his congressional speeches and in his public 
addresses every-where. In 1850 and in 1861 his course was 
the logical sequence of his opinions, maintained and asserted 
from his introduction to public life. To save the Union, upon 
the only basis upon which it could rest as a guarantee of liberty, 
— the basis of absolute equality among the States; to blend 
Federal power and States' Rights, was the grand, paramount 
object to which all his aspirations and all his investigations 
of political science were directed. Repudiating the power of 
a State to nullify an act of Congress, and yet not surrender 
its normal relations as a member of the Union, he always as- 
serted the right of secession, in the last resort, as an original, 
inherent, and vital attribute of State Sovereignty. The Fed- 
eral Government, to his mind, was a mere agent of the States, 
created by them for a few general and intestate purposes, but 
having in it no principle subversive of the paramount sover- 
eignty of the States. Rapidly extending its power by enact- 
ments of Congress and judicial constructions, he foresaw, and 
sought to counteract, its tendency to obliterate all State indi- 
viduality, and ultimately absorb into its own keeping the 
liberties of the people. With dread and indignation, he con- 
templated its progress towards that monstrum horrendum, a 
consolidated democracy — the Union of to-day, in which we 
see that the will of the majority is the sole measure of its 
powers. 

Such was his consistency, and such his sagacity, as vindi- 
cated in the light of subsequent events, and patent to the eyes 
of the world to-day. Who can now doubt which was the 
better and more logical theory ? Clay said : " I owe allegiance 
to two sovereignties, and only two : one is to the sovereignty 



DAVIS' iDEAT. UNION. 79 

of this Union, and the other is to the sovereignty of the State 
of Kentucky." Thus he held to the paradox of an impenimi 
in hnperio, that obvious absurdity in our system of govern- 
ment, a divided sovereignty. In his ardent Unionism, the 
great exponent of expediency disavowed allegiance to the 
South, though still holding to his allegiance to Kentucky. 
But suppose Kentucky asserts her sovereignty, and chooses 
to unite with the South, what, then, becomes of State Sover- 
eignty and State allegiance? Just here was the hiatus in Clay's 
logic, and, closely pressed by Davis, he emphatically declared 
his first allegiance to the Union as the supreme authority ; and 
the State Sovereignty of Clay's conception was seen to be as 
intangible and unreal as the " baseless fabric of a vision." 

Far more fair in its semblance, noble in its proportions, and 
beautiful in its harmonies, was the ideal of Davis. In his 
speech on the compromise measures, July 31, 1850, he said: 

"Give to each section of the Union justice; give to every citi- 
zen of the United States his rights as guaranteed by the Consti- 
tution ; leave this Confederacy to rest upon that basis from which 
it arose — the fraternal feelings of the people — and I, for one, have 
no fear of its perpetuity; none that it will not survive beyond the 
limits of human speculation, expanding and hardening with the 
lapse of time, to extend its blessings to ages unnumbered, and a 
people innumerable; to include within its empire all the useful 
products of the earth, and exemplify the capacity of a confeder- 
acy, with general, well-defined powers, to extend illimitably with- 
out impairing its harmony or its strength." 

The grounds of Mr. Davis' opposition to the so-called " Com- 
promise" programme of ISIr. Clay were far otherwise than a 
factious and impracticable hostility to an amicable adjustment 



80 LIFE OF JEFFERSON DAYIS. 

of sectional differences. He conscientiously doubted the dis- 
position of the North to abstain from all future interference 
with Southern institutions, and he detected and exposed the 
utter want of ejfficacy of the compromise measures as an as- 
surance of protection against future aggression. He abhorred 
the substitution of expediency for principle ; could see no com- 
pronhse where one side simply surrendered what the other had 
no right to demand, and correctly estimated this settlement, 
like those which had preceded it, as but an invitation to still 
more incolerable exactions by an implacable sectional majority. 
rHiile discussing, in private conversation with Mr. Clay, the 
merits of Mr. Webster's memorable speech of the 7th of 
March, 1850, a few days after its delivery, he briefly, but 
sufficiently defined his position. "Come," said Mr. Clay, 
"my young friend; join us in these measures of pacification. 
Let us rally Congress and the people to their support, and 
they will assure to the country thirty years of peace. By 
that time" (turning to John M. Berrien, who was a party to 
the conversation) "you and I will be under the sod, and my 
young friend may then have trouble again." "No," said 
Davis, "I can not consent to transfer to posterity a question 
which is as much ours as theirs, when it is evident that the 
sectional inequality, as it will be greater then than now, will 
render hopeless the attainment of justice." 

His clear, penetrating glance discovered, under the guise of 
a friendly and pacific purpose, the insidious presence so mis- 
chievous to Southern interests, just as George Mason, more 
than fifty years before, had seen the "poison under the wing 
of the Federal Constitution." "While the bill for the organ- 
ization of the Territory of New Mexico was pending, the vig- 
ilance and sagacity of Mr. Davis elicited the most flattering 



HIS OPPOSITION TO THE COMPROMISE. 81 

commendation from his Southern associates. In this bill there 
was a general grant, in loose and ambiguous phrascolor"'', of 
legislative power, with a reservation that no law should be 
passed " in respect to African slavery." Strangely enough, this 
provision, though obviously involving an inhibition against 
the enactment of laws for the protection of Southern property, 
escaped general detection. . Mr. Davis promptly exposed its 
pur2)oso, and offered an amendment, striking out the restraint 
against legislation " in respect to African slavery," and pro- 
hibiting the enactment of any law interfering " with those 
rights of property growing out of the institution of African 
slavery as it exists in any of the States of this Union." To 
meet the concurrence of other Senators, the amendment was 
variously modified, until, as explained by Mr. Davis, it em- 
bodied "the general proposition that the Territorial Legisla- 
ture should not be prevented from passing the laws necessary 
for the protection of the rights of property of every kind 
Avhich might be legally and constitutionally held in that ter- 
ritory." It is needless to say that so just a proposition, 
affording equal protection to Southern with ^Northern insti- 
tutions, was defeated. 

While there was little in INIr. Clay's plan of pacification to 
recommend it to Southern support, beyond the merely tempo- 
rary staving off of a dissolution of the Union and civil war, 
it embodied propositions utterly incompatible with the security 
of the South. Mr. Davis especially and persistently com- 
bated its provision for the abolition of the slave-trade in the 
District of Columbia, and tlip concession that slavery did not 
legally exist in the newly-acquired territory. His position 
upon the general issues involved can not be more clearly and 

forcibly stated than in his own language : 
6 



•f 



82 LIFE OF JEFFERSON DAVIS. 

" But, sir, we are called upon to receive this as a measure of 
compromise ! — as a measure in which we of the minority are to 
receive something. A measure of compromise! I look upon it as 
a modest mode of taking that, the claim to which has been more 
boldly asserted by others ; and that I may be understood upon 
this question, and that my position may go forth to the country in 
the same columns that convey the sentiments of the Senator from 
Kentucky, I here assert that never will I take less than the Mis- 
souri Compromise line to the Pacific Ocean, with specific right to 
hold slaves in the territory below that line; and that before such 
territories are admitted into the Union as States, slaves may be 
taken there from any of the United States, at the option of the 
owners. I can never consent to give additional power to a ma- 
jority CO commit further aggression upon the minority in this 
Union ; and I will never consent to any proposition which will 
have such a tendency without a full guarantee or counteracting 
measure is connected with it." 

The parliamentary annals of the Union embrace no period 
more prolific of grand intellectual efforts than the debates in- 
cident to this gigantic struggle. The prominence of Mr. Da- 
vis, with his extreme ardor in behalf of the rights and interests 
of his section, brought him constantly into conflict with the 
most eminent leaders of both the great political parties, who 
had cordially agreed to ignore all minor issues and unite in 
the paramount jjurpose of saving the Union. Ca:=s, Douglas, 
Bright, Dickinson, and King, earnestly cooperated with Clav, 
Webster, and other Whig champions, in the advocacy of the 
measures of compromise. That Davis, younger In years and 
experience than most of these distinguished men, amply sus- 
tained his honorable and responsible role as the foremost cham- 
pion of the South, contemporary public opinion and the Con- 



MR. clay's regard FOR DAVIS. 83 

gressional records give abundant testimony. The great com- 
proraise chieftain, between whom and Davis occurred such 
obstinate and protracted encountei's in debate, delighted to 
testify his respect for the talents and intrepidity of his " young 
friend," which was his habitual salutation to Davis. Despite 
the pronounced antagonism between them, on all measures of 
public policy, and their comparatively brief acquaintance, Mr. 
Clay repeatedly evinced, in a most touching manner, his warm 
regard for one who had been tlic compunion-in-arms and cher- 
ished friend of a noble son,* who lost his life on the same 
field, upon which Davis won such deathless distinction. "My 
poor boy,'' were his words to the latter, upon his return from 
Mexico, "usually occupied about one-half of his letters home 
in praising you." A still more touching incident, illustrative 
of his friendly regard, at the moment not understood by those 
present, occurred, in the heat of discussion during the exciting 
period, which we have had under consideration. Replying to 
Davis, said Mr. Clay : " My friend from Mississippi — and I 
trust tliat he will permit me to call him my friend, for between 
ys there is a tie, the nature of which we both well understand." 
At this moment the utterance of the aged statesman became 
tremulous with emotion, and, bowing his head, his eyes w'ere 
seen to fill with tears. This friendship was warmly recipro- 
cated by Mr. Davis, and its recollections are among those the 
most highly-cherished of his public life. 

With the defeat of those who had opposed the compromise, 
terminated, for the present, Southern resistance in Congress, 
though it did not for an instant check Northern aggression. 
Yet many prominent public characters at the South, and, as the 

* Henry Clay, Jr., a graduate of West Point, and at the time of his 
death, Lieutenant-Colonel of volunteers. He fell at Bucna Vista. 



84 LIFE OF JEFFERSOX DAVIS. 

sequel demonstrated, indorsed by popular sentiment, avowed 
themselves fully satisfied with a mere show of triumph and 
pretense of justice — a few paltry concessions, not worth the 
parchment upon which they were written. In the meantime, 
upon another arena, Mr. Davis entered upon a gallant strug- 
gle, in opposition to a policy from which he foresaw and pre- 
dicted a fruitful yield of disaster in the future. 



THE COMPEOMLSE BEFORE THE PEOrLE. 



CHAPTER V. 

OPPOSITION TO THE COMPROMISE IN SOUTH CAROLINA AND MISSISSIPPI — DAVIS 
A CANDIDATE FOR GOVERNOR — HIS DEFEAT REALLY A PERSONAL TRIU5IPH — 
IN RETIREJIENT, SUPPORTS GENERAL PIERCE's ELECTION — DECLINES AN AP- 
POINTMENT IN Pierce's cabinet, but subsequently accepts secretary- 
ship OP war — REMARKABLE UNITY OP PIERCE's ADMINISTRATION, AND 
HIGH CHARACTER OF THE EXECUTIVE — DAVIS AS SECRETARY OF WAR — KAN- 
SAS-NEBRASKA BILL AND THE EXCITEMENT WHICH FOLLOWED — DAVIS AGAIN 
ELECTED TO THE SENATE — SPEECHES AT PASS CHRISTIAN AND OTHER POINTS 
WHILE ON HIS WAY TO WASHINGTON. 

~|3UT, though the battle had been fought and won in Con- 
-*-' gress, and it was evident, at an early date, that the weight 
of great names in favor of the Compromise, aided by the ever- 
timid counsels of capital and commerce, would command for 
that measure the overwhelming support of the country, the 
States' Rights men were resolved upon a test of popular senti- 
ment. Accordingly, in South Carolina and Mississippi, States 
at all times the most advanced in Southern feeling, the oppo- 
nents of the Compromise organized, as did its friends also. 
The issue, though substantially the same, was presented in a 
somewhat different form in these two States. 

In South Carolina, where public sentiment was always sin- 
gularly unanimous, upon all questions affecting the honor and 
interests of the South, and in entire accord as to the mode 
and measure of redress for the grievances of the States, the 
propriety of resistance was a foregone conclusion. The only 



86 LIFE OF JEFFERSON DAVIS. 

question was, whether South Carolina should act separately, 
or await the cooperation of other Southern States. The j^arty 
of cooperation triumphed in the election of members to a State 
convention, by the decisive popular majority of seven thousand 
votes. 

In Mississippi the issue was one of resistance or acquiescence. 
The States' Rights, or resistance party, embraced four-fifths of 
the Democracy of the State and a small accession of States' 
Rights Whigs ; while the Union, or Compromise party, was 
composed of the Clay Whigs and a fraction of the Democracy. 

The Legislature provided an election for members of a State 
convention to consider the subject of Federal aggressions, to 
be held in September, 1851, and, in the ensuing November the 
regular election of Governor occurred. Much interest centred 
upon the gubernatorial contest, and the State was for months 
previous to the election the scene of great excitement. Gen- 
eral John A. Quitman, one of the most distinguished officers 
of the army, daring the INIexican war, a man of the loftiest 
character, a reliable statesman, and sterling patriot, was nomi- 
nated by the States' Rights Convention. Mr. Henry S. Foote, 
then a Senator from Mississippi, and an active supporter of 
the Compromise measures, was the candidate of the Union 
party. While an exceedingly animated canvass between these 
candidates was still in progress, the election for members of 
the convention resulted in an aggregate majority of seven 
thousand five hundred votes for the Union candidates. Gen- 
eral Quitman, disappointed by such an unexpected and deci- 
sive exhibition of public sentiment, and viewing it as the 
forerunner of the result of the gubernatorial election in No- 
vember, withdrcAV from the contest. 

Mr. Davis, who had already been elected for a second term 



CANDIDATE FOR COV HKNOUSiriP. 87 

t 

to the Senate, was now looked to as almost the sole depend- 
ence of the States' Rights men, and they summoned him to 
take the field as the adversary of ^Ir. Foote. There was little 
inducement, had he consulted selfish considerations, to relin- 
quish a high position, already secured, and become the leader 
of a forlorn hope. Though greatly enfeebled in health, and 
at that time an acute sufferer, he accepted the nomination. 
His sense of duty and devotion to his principles triumphed 
even over his physical infirmities, and, resigning his seat in 
the Senate, he entered upon the canvass. 

The result was, as had been foi-cscen, the defeat of Mr. Da- 
vis. Mr. Foote, a man of more than average ability, and of 
varied and extensive attainments, whose excessive garrulity and 
total want of discretion disqualified him for usefulness as a 
member of a legislative bod}'-, or for any practical end of 
statesmanship, Avas, nevertheless, an adroit party tactician. 
"With great dexterity he had conducted the canvass with Gen- 
eral Quitman, by skillfully evading the real issue, introducing 
side questions, and thus breaking the force of the plain and 
statesman-like arguments of his more open and less dexterous 
adversary. When Mr. Davis entered the field, under all the 
disadvantages to which we have alluded, the election of Foote 
was almost universally conceded. Had the canvass lasted a 
few weeks, however, the result, in all probability, would have 
been different. The popularity of Mr. Davis was indicated 
by the paltry majority (nine hundred and ninety-nine votes) 
given against him, as compared with the Union majority at 
the election in September, for members of the convention. 
Under all the circumstances, his friends rightly viewed it as a 
personal triumph, and he emerged from the contest with in-, 
creased reputation and public regard. 



05 LIFE OF JEFFERSON DAVIS. 

The results of these appeals to popular judgment were 
scarcely less decisive, in favor of the Compromise, than had 
been its congressional victory. It was evident that the 
Southern people were yet far from being ready for organized 
and practical resistance, and were not likely to be, until some 
flagrant outrage should arouse their resentment. 

Mr. Davis was now in retirement, and, though abiding the 
decision of Mississippi, he was yet avowedly determined to 
devote his energies to the efficient organization of the States' 
Rights party for future struggles. Yet nothing was farther 
from his purpose than a factious agitation. His aim was to 
secure for the States' Rights principle a moral and numerical 
support in the ranks of the Democracy, which should enable 
its friends to wield an appropriate influence upon the policy 
of that party. He contemplated no organization outside of 
the Democracy, for the promotion of disunionism jjer se ; and, 
in the Presidential canvass of 1852, separated himself from 
many of his closest personal and political friends, who had 
nominated the Presidential ticket of Troup and Quitman, 
upon the distinctive platform of States' Rights and separa- 
tion. 

The nomination of Franklin Pierce, upon the Baltimore plat- 
form, met his cordial approbation, and received his active sup- 
port. With General Pierce, Mr. Davis held the most friendly 
relations, and in his constitutional opinions he had entire con- 
fidence. His support of the platform was quite as consist ': 
as his advocacy of the nominee. Both indorsed, with em- 
phasis, the Compromise, which he had opposed, but which Mis- 
sissippi had ratified, and both avowed their acceptance of it, 
as a finality, beyond which there was to be no farther agitation 
of the slavery question. In Mississippi, Louisiana, and Ten- 



SECRETARY OF WAR. 89 

nessee he participated actively in the canvass, and rendered 
most efficient service to his party, especially in the two latter 
States. 

General Pierce indicated his estimate of Davis, by a prompt 
tender of a position in his Cabinet. Considering himself com- 
mitted to the fortunes of his principles in Mississippi, he pre- 
ferred to "remain and fight the issue out there," and reluc- 
tantly declined. Subsequently the President-elect addressed 
him a letter expressing a desire that, upon personal grounds 
at least, Mr. Davis should be present at his inauguration. 
After he had reached Washington the tender of a Cabinet ap- 
pointment was repeated. The obvious advantages to the States' 
Eights party of representation in the Government, an argu- 
ment earnestly urged upon him by prominent Southern states- 
men, at length overcame his personal preference, and he ac- 
cepted the position of Secretary of War. 

With the policy of President Pierce's administration, Secre- 
tar)^ Davis was, of course, fully identified. Whatever of in- 
fluence and sympathy he could command, were employed in 
promoting its success, and between the President and himself 
there was an uninterrupted harmony of personal and official 
intercourse. Indeed the glory of this administration and the 
explanation of its title to that high award which it earned 
from impartial criticism, for its courageous pursuit of an up- 
right, constitutional policy, was the characteristic unity which 
j^' '^vailed between its head and his advisers. During the four 
years of its existence the Cabinet of President Pierce continued 
unchanged, at its close the head of each department surrender- 
ing the seals of office which he had received at its inaugur- 
ation. The history of no other administration is adorned with 
such an instance of cordial and unbroken cooperation, and the 



90 LIFE OF JEFFERSON DAVIS. 

fact is equally creditable to the sagacity of General Pierce in 
the selection of his advisers, and his consummate tact in the 
reconciliation of those antagonisms, which are hardly to be 
avoided in the operations of the complicated machinery of 
Government. 

A common statement of its enemies, that the administration 
must eventually break down by disorganization, in consequence 
of the utterly discordant elements which composed it, was never 
realized. At one time Mr. Marcy, the Secretary of State, was 
the wily Macchiavelli, against whose intrigues the rest ^of the 
Cabinet was in arms, while Mr. Davis was charged with play- 
ing alternately the roles of Richelieu and Marplot. 

Of all American executives, Franklin Pierce is preemi- 
nently entitled to the designation of the constitutional Presi- 
dent. The great covenant of American liberty, so ruthlessly 
despoiled in these degenerate days, when opportunity and pre- 
text are the sufficient justification of flagrant violations of 
justice, was the guide whose precepts he followed without de- 
viation. His Northern birth and training did not swerve from 
his obligations to extend an equal protection to the interests 
of other sections, the patriotic executive, Avhom posterity will 
delight to honor, for his wisdom, purity, and impartiality, just 
in proportion as those qualities provoke the clamor of the 
dominant ignorance and passion of to-day. 

In a Cabinet, noted for its ability, of which "William L. 
Marcy was the Premier, and Caleb Cushing the Attorney- 
General, Secretary Davis occupied a position worthy of his 
abilities and his previous reputation, and peculiarly gratifying 
to his military tastes. It is no disparagement of his associates 
to say that his strongly-marked character commanded a con- 
stant and emphatic recognition in the policy of the Government. 



SKCUKJ-AUV or WAV.. 91 

Under his control the department of war was greatly ad- 
vanced in dignity and -importance, receiving a character far 
more distinctive and independent of other branches of the 
Government than it had previously claimed. He infused into 
all its operations an energy till then unknown, introducing im- 
provements so extensive and comprehensive as to occasion ap- 
prehension of an almost too powerful and independent system 
of military organization. It is a fact univ^ersally conceded 
that his administration of the War Office was incomparably 
superior to that of any official w^ho has filled that position — 
contributing more to the promotion of efficiency in the armv, 
to the advancement of those great national establishments so 
vital to the security of the nation, and to the systematic, prac- 
tical management of the details of the office. In reviewing 
Mr. Davis' conduct of this important department of the Gov- 
ernment, the splendid improvements Avhich he inaugurated, his 
earnest and. unceasing labors in behalf of the efficiency of the 
army, it is impossible to overestimate his eminent services to 
the Union, which even at that time his traducers and those of 
the South would j)retend he was plotting to destroy. In the 
Cabinet, as in the Senate, there was no measure of national ad- 
vantage to which he did not give his cordial support, no great 
national institution which he would not have fostered with 
generous and timely sympathy; nothing to which he was not 
zealously committed, promising to redound to the glory, pros- 
perity, and perpetuity of that Union, in whose service he had 
been trained, whose uniform he had proudly worn, and beneath 
whose banner he had braved a soldier's death. 

Secretary Davis made many recommendations contemplat- 
ing radical alterations in the military system of the Union. 
One of his first measures was a recommendation for the thor- 



92 LIFE OF JEFFEESON DAVIS. 

ough revision of the army regulations. He opposed the plac- 
ing of officers, at an early period of service, permanently upon 
the staff, and advocated a system, which, he contended, would 
improve the discipline and efficiency of officers, " whereby the 
right of command should follow rank by one certain rule." 
The increase of the medical corps ; the introduction of camels ; 
the introduction of the light infantry or rifle system of tac- 
tics, rifled muskets, and the Minie-ball were all measures ad- 
vocated by Secretary Davis, and discussed in his official papers 
with a force and intelligence that make them highly valuable 
to the military student. He urged a thorough exploration of 
the Western frontier, and important changes in the arrange- 
ment of defenses against the Indians, demonstrating the ineffi- 
ciency of the system of small forts for the purposes of war 
with the savages. To obviate, in a measure, the expense, and 
almost useless trouble, of locating military posts in advance 
of settlement, he suggested the plan of maintaining large gar- 
risons at certain points, situated favorably for obtaining sup- 
plies and accessible by steamboat or railway. From these 
posts strong detachments could be supplied and equipped for 
service in the Indian country. His efforts were most strenu- 
ous to obtain an increase of pay to officers of the army, and 
pensions to the widows and orphans of officers and men, upon 
a basis similar to that of the navy. 

During the Crimean war. Secretary Davis sent a commis- 
sion, of which Major-General McClellan, then a captain of 
cavalry, was a member, to study and report upon the science 
of war and the condition of European armies, as illustrated in 
the operations incident to that struggle. At his suggestion 
four new regiments — two of cavalry — were added to the army, 
and numerous appropriations made for tlie construction of new 



EEVIVAL OF AGITATION. 93 

forts, improvements in small arms, and the accumulation of 
munitions of war. 

The Presidential term of Pierce expired on the 4th of 
March, 1857, and with it terminated the connection of Mr. 
Davis with the executive branch of the Government. He re- 
tired with the hearty respect of his associates, and in the 
enjoyment of the most confiding friendship with the late 
head of the Government, a feeling which is cherished by 
both, with unabated warmth, at this day. All parties con- 
curred in pronouncing Mr. Davis' conduct of his department 
successful, able, and brilliant, and in the midst of the tide 
of misrepresentation, with which, during and since the war, 
it has been sought to overwhelm his reputation, the least 
candid of his accusers have been compelled to this reluctant 
confession. 

Incidental to the late administration, but by no means 
traceable to its influence, had been legislation by Congress of 
a most important character, which was to give a powerful im- 
pulse to agencies long tending to the destruction of the Union. 
The election of Pierce had been carried with a unanimity un- 
precedented, upon the distinct pledge of the acceptance of the 
Compromise as a finality. The country, for months subse- 
quently, reposed in profound quiet, produced by its confidence 
in aai approaching season of unequaled prosperity, and exempt 
from all danger of political agitation. This hallucination was 
destined to be speedily and rudely dispelled by events, which 
afford striking evidence of how completely the peace and hap- 
piness of the American people have always been at the mercy 
of aspiring and unscrupulous demagogues. Mr. Stephen A. 



94 LIFE OF JEFFEESON DAVIS. 

Douglas must ever be held, equally by both sections, respon- 
sible for the disastrous agitation, which followed his introduc- 
tion of certain measures, under the j^i'ctense of a sentimental 
justice, or a concession of principle to the South, but in reality 
prompted by his personal ambition, and which greatly aided 
to precipitate the catastrophe of disunion. 

Upon the application of the Territory of Nebraska for ad- 
mission into the Union, Senator Douglas, from the Committee 
on Territories, submitted a bill creating the two Territories of 
Nebraska and Kansas, and affirming the supersession of the 
Missouri restriction of 1820, which prohibited slavery north 
of 36° 30', by the Compromise of 1850. It declared the Mis- 
souri restriction inconsistent with the principle of non-inter- 
vention by Congress with territorial affairs, which had been 
adopted in the settlement of 1850, and therefore inoperative. 

This bill was apparently a mere concession of principle to 
the South, not likely to be of much practical value, but still 
gratifying, as it gave to her citizens the right to carry their 
property into districts from which it had been hitherto in- 
hibited. Passing both houses of Congress, in 1854, it was 
approved by the Pierce administration,* sanctioned by the 

* The repeal of the Missouri Compromise has been commonly alluded 
to as the special and leading measure of the Pierce administration. It 
was, in reality, not an administration measure. The Avell-known cor- 
diality of Mr. Davis' relations with President Pierce induced a number 
of Senators to call upon Mr. Davis, on the Sunday morning previous to 
the introduction of the Kansas-Xebraska Bill, and ask his aid in securing 
them the pledge of the President's approval. They represented the meas- 
ure as contemplating merely the assertion of the rights of property, slavery 
included, in the Territories. Mr. Davis objected, at first, to an interrup- 
tion of the President, on the Sabbath, for such a purpose, but finally 
yielded. The President promptly signified his approbation of a measure 
contemplating such a purpose. It is .not necessary to say that the legis- 
lation of Congress embraced a far greater scope than that indicated. The 



ELECTED UNITED STATES SENATOR. 95 

Democracy generally, and greeted by the South as a triumph. 
It was not imagined that a victory, so purely sentimental 
and intangible, could be accepted by the North, as a pretext 
for violent eruptions of sectional jealousy, and least of all did 
the South believe its author capable of the subsequent duplic- 
ity with which, by specious arguments and verbal ingenuity, 
he claimed for the measure, a construction far more insidious, 
but not less fatal to her interests, than the designs of pro- 
claimed Abolitionists. The immediate result was a tempest 
of excitement in the Northern States, in the midst of which 
the so-called Republican party, for the first time, appeared as 
a formidable contestant in political struggles, and defeated the 
Democracy in almost every State election. The latter, with 
extreme difficulty, elected Mr. Buchanan to the Presidency two 
years afterwards. 

In the meantime, while his term of office as Secretary of 
War was still unexpired, Mr. Davis had been elected, by the 
Legislature of Mississippi, to the Senate, for the term beginning 
March 4, 1857. On his return home, he was received by the 
Democracy of the State with distinguished honors. Dinners, 
receptions, and public entertainments of various kinds were 
tendered him; and, during the summer and autumn, previous 
to his departure for Washington, he addressed numerous large 
popular gatherings with his accustomed force and boldness 
upon pending issues. These addresses commanded universal 
attention, and were highly commended for their able, dispas- 
sionate, and statesman-like character. 

administration indorsed the Kansas-Nebraska Bill in full, because the 
principle Avas correct, thou^ih its assertion then was wholly unnecessary, 
unprofitable, and likely to lead to mischievous results. This was the real 
connection of the Pierce administration with a measure for whose conse- 
quences the ambition of Judge Douglas was almost solely responsible. 



96 LIFE OF JEFFERSON DAVIS. 

His speech at Pass Christian, while on his journey to Wash- 
ington, was a masterly and eloquent review of the condition 
of the country, with its causes and remedies. He attributed 
the national difficulties chiefly to the puritanical intolerance 
and growing disregard of constitutional obligations of the 
North. These influences seriously menaced the safety of the 
Union, for which he had no hope, unless in the event of a 
reaction in Northern sentiment, or of such resolute action by 
a united South as should compel her enemies to respect their 
constitutional duties. To the latter policy he looked as the 
best guarantee of the security of the South and the preserva- 
tion of the Union. Interference by one State with the in- 
stitutions of another could not, under any circumstances, be 
tolerated, even though resistance should eventually result in 
a dissolution of the Union. The latter event was possible — 
indeed, might become necessary — but should never be under- 
taken save in the last extremity. He would not disguise the 
profound emotion with which he contemplated the possibility 
of disunion. The fondest reminiscences of his life w^ere asso- 
ciated with the Union, into whose military service, while yet 
a boy, he had entered. In his matured manhood he had fol- 
lowed its flag to victory; had seen its graceful folds Avave 
in the peaceful pageant, and, again, its colors conspicuous 
amid the triumphs of the battle-field; he had seen that flag 
in the East, brightened by the sun at its rising, and, in the 
West, gilded by his declining rays — and the tearing of one 
star from its azure field would be to him as would the loss of 
a child to a bereaved parent. 

This speech — one of the most eloquent he has ever made — 
was received by his audience with unbounded enthusiasm, and 
was approvingly noticed by the press of both sections. 



VIEWS UPOX IMPORTANT QUESTIONS. 97. 

At Mississippi City he delivered an address in explanation 
of his personal course, and in vindication of the admini.-^tra- 
tion of which he had lately been a member. He had obeyed 
the \vill of Mississippi, respecting the legislation of 1850, 
though against his convictions, and, in the present disorders 
in Kansas, he saw the fruits of the unwise substitution of 
expediency for principle. Of President Pierce he could speak 
only in terras of eulogy, defended his vetoes of bills '*for in- 
ternal improvements and eleemosynary purposes," depicting, 
in passages of rare and fervent eloquence, his heroic adherence 
to the Constitution, elevated patriotism, and distinguished vir- 
tues. Contrasting the conduct of the Fillmore and Pierce 
administrations concerning the Cuban question, .he avowed 
his belief that Cuba would then be in possession of the United 
States had Congress sustained General Pierce in his prompt 
and decided suggestions as to the Black Warrior difficulty. 

Mr. Davis expressed his approbation of the course pursued 
by the late administration with reference to Nicaragua. " Un- 
lawful expeditions" should be suppressed, though he should 
rejoice at the establishment of American institutions in Cen- 
tral America, and maintained the right of the United States 
to a paramount influence in the affairs of the continent, with 
which European interference should be, at all times, promptly 
checked. 

When the Thirty-fifth Congress assembled in December, 
1857, the Kansas question had already developed a difficult 
and critical phase. The rock upon which Mr. Buchanan's 
administration was to split had been encountered, and the 
wedge prepared, with which the Democratic party was des- 
tined to be torn asunder. 
7 



98 LIFE OF JEFFERSON DAVIS. 



CHAPTER yi. 

RETURN OF MR. DAVIS TO .THE SENATE — OPENING EVENTS OP MR. BUCHANAN's 

ADMINISTRATION TRUE INTERPRETATION OP THE LEGISLATION OP 1854 

SENATOR DOUGLAS THE INSTRUMENT OP DISORGANIZATION IN THE DEMO- 
CRATIC PARTY HIS ANTECEDENTS AND CHARACTER AN ACCOMPLISHED DEM- 
AGOGUE DAVIS AND DOUGLAS CONTRASTED BOTH REPRESENTATIVES OF 

THEIR RESPECTIVE SECTIONS DOUGLAS AMBITION HIS COUP d'eTAT, AND 

ITS RESULTS THE KANSAS QUESTION DOUGLAS TRIUMPHS OVER THE SOUTH 

AND THE UNITY OF THE DEMOCRATIC PARTY LOST " SQUATTER SOVER- 
EIGNTY" PROPERLY CHARACTERIZED DAVIs' COURSE IN THE KANSAS 

STRUGGLE DEBATE WITH SENATOR FESSENDEN PEN-AND-INK SKETCH OF 

MR. DAVIS AT THIS PERIOD TRUE SIGNIFICANCE OF POLITICAL EVENTS TO 

THE SOUTH SHE RIGHTLY INTERPRETS THE3I MR. DAVIs' COURSE SUBSE- 
QUENT TO THE KANSAS IMBROGLIO HIS DEBATES "mTH DOUGLAS TWO DIF- 
FERENT SCHOOLS OF PARLIAMENTARY SPEAKING DAVIS THE LEADER OP THE 

REGULAR DEMOCRACY IN THE THIRTY-SIXTH CONGRESS HIS RESOLUTIONS 

HIS CONSISTENCY — COURSE AS TO GENERAL LEGISLATION VISITS THE NORTH 

SPEAKS IN PORTLAND, BOSTON, NEW YORK, AND OTHER PLACES REPLY TO 

AN IxVVITATION TO ATTEND THE WEBSTER BIRTH-DAY FESTIVAL MR. SEW- 

ARD's announcement op the " IRREPRESSIBLE CONFLICT " MR. DAVIS BE- 
FORE MISSISSIPPI DEMOCRATIC STATE CONVENTION PROGRESS OF DISUNION 

DISSOLUTION OF THE DEMOCRATIC PARTY — SPEECHES OF MR. DAVIS AT PORT- 
LAND AND IN SENATE. 

"E/TR. DAVIS returned to the Senate at a period marked 
-*-"-*- by agitation, no less menacing to the Union than that 
which had so seriously threatened it in 1850. His health at 
this time was exceedingly infirm, and for several months he 
was so much prostrated by his protracted suffering.s, that a 
proper regard for the suggestions of prudence would have jus- 



RETURNS TO THE SENATE. 99 

tified his entire abstinence from the labors and excitements of 
this stormy period. Again and again, however, did his heroic 
devotion carry him from his sick bed to the capitol, to engage 
in the death-struggle of the South, with her leagued enemies, 
for safety in the Union, which she was still loath to abandon, 
even under the pressure of intolerable wrong. Frequently, 
with attenuated frame and bandaged eyes, he was to be seen 
in the Senate, at moments critical in the fierce sectional con- 
flict; and at the final struggle upon the Kansas question, not 
even the earnest admonitions of his physician, that to leave 
his chamber would probably be followed by the most dan- 
gerous results, were availing to induce his absence from the 
scene. 

The opening events of the first session of the Thirty-fifth 
Congress, (the first incidental to the administration of Mr. 
Buchanan,) were far from being auspicious of the continued 
unity of the Democratic party, which, for several years past, 
the intelligence of the country had correctly appreciated as an 
essential condition to the preservation of the Union. 

Mainly through the undivided support given him by the 
South, Mr. Buchanan was elected upon the Cincinnati plat- 
form of 1856, which was a re-affirmation of the cardinal tenets 
of the Democratic faith, involving also emphatic approval of 
the Kansas-Nebraska legislation two years previous. Not 
until months after his inauguration were there any indications 
of hostility to his administration within the ranks of his own 
party. Nor had there been any avowed difference of construc- 
tion as to the end and effect of the legislation of 1854. The 
rare unanimity with which the South had been rallied to the 
support of the Democracy was based upon the unreserved 
admission, by all parties, that the Kansas-Nebraska act was 



100 LIFE OF JEFFEESOX DAVIS. 

designedly friendly in its spirit, at all events, to Southern in- 
terests. Xo Southern statesman, for a moment, dreamed that 
it was capable of an interpretation unfriendly to his section. 
That the plain purpose of the bill was to remove the subject 
of slavery outside the bounds of congressional discussion, and 
to place it in the disposition of the States separately, and in 
the Territories, when organizing for admission as States, was 
regarded by the South as the leading vital principle which 
challenged her enthusiastic support. Such, indeed, was the doc- 
trine asserted by the entire Democratic party of the South, 
enunciated by the administration, and tacitly approved by the 
^Northern Democracy. Very soon, however, after the meeting 
of Congress, the action of Senator Douglas revealed him as the 
instrument of disorganization in his party. To a proper un- 
derstanding of his motives and conduct at this conjuncture, a 
brief statement of his antecedents is essential. 

Stephen A. Douglas was now in the meridian of life and 
the full maturity of his unquestionably vigorous intellectual 
powers. For twenty-five years he had been prominent in the 
arena of politics, and as a member of Congress his course had 
been so eminently politic and judicious as to make him a favor- 
ite with the Democracy, both North and South. To an unex- 
ampled degree his public life illustrated the combination of 
those characteristics of the demagogue, a fertile ingenuity, facile 
accommodation to circumstances, and wonderful gifts of the ad 
captandum species of oratory, so captivating to the populace, 
which in America peculiarly constitute the attributes of the 
" rising man." Douglas was not wanting in noble and attrac- 
tive qualities of manhood. His courage was undoubted, his 
generosity was princely in its munificence to his personal 
friends, and he frequently manifested a lofty magnanimity. In 



A CONTRAST — DAVIS AND DOr(;r,A.S. 101 

his early youth, deprived of tlic advantages of fortune and jio- 
sition, the discipline of his career ^vas not propitious to the 
development of the higher qualities of statesmanship — with 
Avhich, indeed, he was scantily endowed by nature. It is as 
the accomplished politician, subtle, ready, fearless, and inde- 
fatigable, that he must be remembered. In this latter charac- 
ter he was unrivaled. 

Kot less than Davis was Douglas a representative man, }'et 
no two men were more essentially dissimilar, and no two lives 
ever actuated by aspirations and instincts more unlike. Doug- 
las was the representative of expediency — Davis the exponent 
of principles. In his party associations Douglas would toler- 
ate the largest latitude of individual opinion, while Davis was 
always for a policy clearly defined and unmistakable; and 
ujion a matter of vital principle, like Percy, would reluctantly 
surrender even the "ninth part of a hair." To maintain the 
united action of the Democratic party on election day, to de- 
feat its opponents, to secure the rewards of success, Douglas 
would allow a thousand different constructions of the party 
creed by as many factions. Davis, on the other hand, would, 
and eventually did, approve the dissolution of the party, when 
it refused an open, manly enunciation of its faith. For mere 
jiarty success Douglas cared every thing, and Davis nothing, 
save as it ensured the triumph of Constitutional principles. 
Both loved the Union and sought its perpetuity, but by differ- 
ent methods; Douglas by never-ending compromises of a quar- 
rel, which he should have known that the North would never 
permit to be amicably settled ; by staving off and ignoring 
issues which were to be solved only by being squarely met. 
Davis, too, was not unwilling to compromise, but he wearied 
of perpetual concession by the South, in the meanwhile the 



102 LIFE OF JEFFERSON DAVIS. 

Xorth continuing its hostility, both open and insidious, and 
urged a settlement of all diiferences upon a basis of simple and 
exact justice to both sections. 

Douglas was preeminently the representative politician of 
his section, and throughout his career was a favorite with that 
boastful, bloated, and mongrel element, which is violently 
called the "American people," and which is the ruling element 
in elections in the Northern cities. In character and conduct 
he embodied many of its materialistic and socialistic ideas, its 
false conception of liberty, its pernicious dogmas of equality, 
and not a little of its rowdyism. 

Davis was the champion of the South, her civilization, 
rights, honor, and dignity. He was the fitting and adequate 
exponent of a civilization which rested upon an intellectual 
and sesthetical development, upon lofty and generous senti- 
ments of manhood, a dignified conservatism, and the proud 
associations of ancestral distinction in the history of the Union. 
Always the Senator in the sense of the ideal of dignity and 
courtesy which is suggested by that title, he was also the gen- 
tleman upon all occasions; never condescending to flatter or 
soothe the mob, or to court popular favor, he lost none of that 
polished and distinguished manner, in the presence of a " fierce 
Democracie," which made him the ornament of the highest 
school of oratory and statesmanship of his country. 

The ambition of Douglas was unbounded. The recognized 
leader, for several years, of the Northern Democracy, his many 
fine personal qualities and courageous resistance of the ultra 
Abolitionists secured for him a considerable number of sup- 
porters in the Southern wing of that jiarty. The Presidency 
was the goal of his ambition, and for twenty years his course 
had been sedulously adjusted to the attainment of that most 



DOUGLAS' COUP d'eTAT. 103 

coveted of prizes to the American politician. On repeated 
occasions he had been flattered by a highly complimentary 
vote in the nominating conventions of the Democracy. Hith- 
erto he had been compelled to yield his pretensions in favor 
of older members of his party or upon considerations of tem- 
porary availability. It was evident, however, that in order to 
be President, he must secure the nomination in 1860. The 
continued ascendancy of the Democracy was no longer, as here- 
tofore, a foregone conclusion, and, besides, there were others 
equally aspiring and available. His Presidential aspirations 
appeared, indeed, to be without hope or resource, save through 
the agency of some adroit coup d'etat, by which the truculent 
and dominant free-soil sentiment of the North, which he had 
so much affronted by his bid for Southern support in the in- 
troduction of the Kansas-Nebraska bill, could be conciliated. 
In Illinois, his own State, the Abolition strength was alarm- 
ingly on the increase, and to secure his return to the Senate 
at the election to be held in 1858, an object of prime impor- 
tance in the promotion of his more ambitious pretensions, he 
did not scruple to assume a position, falsifying his previous 
record, wantonly insulting and defiant to his Southern associ- 
ates, and in bold antagonism to a Democratic administration. 
The sequel of this rash and ill-judged course was the over- 
throw of his own political fortunes, the disintegration of ins 
party, and the attemjjted dissolution of the Union. 

The earliest recommendations of Mr. Buchanan, respecting 
the Kansas controversy, which, several months since, had de- 
veloped in that Territory into a species of predatory warfore, 
marked by deeds of violence and atrocity, between the. Abo- 
lition and Pro-slavery parties, were signalized by a coalition 
of the follwvers of Douy:las with the Abolitionists and other 



104 LIFE OF JEFFERSOX DAVIS. 

opponents of the administration. The speedy pacification of 
the disorders in Kansas, by the prompt admission of that 
Territory, was the condition essential to the success of ]\Ir. 
Buchanan's entire poHcy. He accordingly recommended the 
admission of Kansas into the Union, with the "Lecompton" 
constitution, wliich had been adopted in September, 1857, by 
the decisive vote of six thousand two hundred and twenty-six 
in favor of that constitution, with slavery, and five hundred 
and nine for it, without slavery. A rival instrument, adopted 
bv an election notoriously held exclusively under the con- 
trol of Abolitionists, prohibiting slavery, was likewise pre- 
sented. 

For months the controversy was waged in Congress between 
the friends of the administration and its enemies, and finally 
resulted in a practical triumph of the Free-soil principle. The 
Anti-Lecompton coalition of Douglas and the Abolitionists, 
aided by the defection of a few Southern members, success- 
fully embarrassed the policy of the administration by defeat- 
ing its recommendations, and eventually carried a measure 
acceptable to Northern sentiments and interests. 

Mr. Douglas thus triumphed over a Democratic adminis- 
tration, at the same time giving a shock to the unity of the 
Democratic party, from which it has never recovered, and 
effectually neutralized its power as a breakwater of the Union 
against the waves of sectional dispute. The alienation be- 
tween himself and his former associates was destined never to 
be adjusted, as indeed it never should have been, in considera- 
tion of his inexcusable recreancy to the immemorial faith of 
his party. Mr. Douglas simply abandoned the South, at the 
very first moment when his aid was seriously demanded. 
Nay, more; he carried with him a quiver of Parthian arrows, 



SQUATTER SOVEilKIGNTY. 105 

wliich he discharged into her bosom at a most critical moment 
in her unequal contest. 

It is not to be denied that Mr. Douglas' new interpretation 
of the Kansas-Xebraskii act was urged by himself and his ad- 
vocates as having a merit not to be overlooked by the North, 
in its suggestion of a method of restricting slavery, presenting 
superior advantages. " Squatter sovereignty," as advocated by 
Mr. Douglas, proposing the decision of the slavery question 
by the people of the Territories, while yet unprepared to ask 
admission as States, was far more eifectual in its plans against 
slavery, and only less prompt and open, than the designs of 
the Abolitionists. It would enable the " Emigrant Aid Socie- 
ties," and imported janizaries of Abolition to exclude the insti- 
tutions of tlie South from the Territories, the joint possessions 
of the two sections, acquired by an enormously dispropor^ 
tionate sacrifice on the part of the South, with a certainty not 
to be realized, for years to come, perhaps, from the Abolition 
policy of congressional prohibition.* According to Mr. Doug- 
las' theory, the existence of slavery in all the Territories was 
to depend upon the verdict of a few hundred settlers or 
"squatters" upon the public lands. It practically conceded to 
Northern interests and ideas every State to be hereafter ad- 
mitted, and under the operation of such a policy it M'as not 
difficult to anticipate the fate of slavery, at last even in the 
States. 

From the inception of tliis controversy until its close 'Slw 
Davis was fully committed to the policy of Mr. Buchanan, 
and his position was in perfect harmony with that of all the 
leading statesmen of the South. Less prominent, perhaps, in 

* Governor Wise, of Virginia, characterized "squatter sovereignty" as 
a " short cut to all the ends of Black Republicanism." 



106 lAFE OF JEFFEESON DAVIS. 

debate, from his constant ill-health during the first session, than 
at any other period of his public life, he was still zealous and 
influential. 

An interesting incident of the session was a discussion be- 
tween Mr. Davis and Mr.. Fessenden, of Maine, a Senator 
second only to Mr. Seward among Abolition leaders, in point 
of intellect, and behind none in his truculent animosity to 
Southern institutions. Reviewing the message of Mr. Buch- 
anan with great severity, Fessenden took occasion to discuss 
elaborately the slavery question, with all its incidental issues. 
-Mr. Davis replied, not at great length, but with much force 
and spirit. The discussion terminated with the following col- 
loquy, which is interesting chiefly in its personal allusions: 

" Mr. Fessenden Sir, I have avowed no dis- 
union sentiments on this floor — neither here nor elsewhere. Can 
the honorable gentleman from Mississippi say as much? 

"Mr. Davis. Yes. 

"Mr. Fessenden. I am glad to hear it, then. 

" Mr. Davis. Yes. I have long sought for a respectable man 
who would allege the contrary. 

" 3Ir. Fessenden. I make no allegation. I asked if he could 
say as much. I am glad to hear him say so, because I must say 
to him that the newspapers have represented him as making a 
speech in Mississippi, in which he said he came into General 
Pierce's cabinet a disunion man. If he never made it, very well. 

"Mr. Davis. I will thank you to produce that newspaper. 

"Mr. Fessenden. I can not produce it, but I can produce an 
extract from it in another paper. 

" Mr. Davis. An extract ! then that falsifies the text. 

" Mr. Fessenden. I am very glad to hear the Senator say so. 
I made no accusation — I put the question to him. If he denies 



DEBATE AVITH SIR. FESSENDEN. 107 

it, very well. I only say that, with all the force and energy with 
which he denies it, so do I. The accusation never has been made 
against me before. On what ground does the Senator now put 
it? . . . 

"Mr. Davis. Does the Senator ask me for an answer? 

"Mr. Fessenden. Certainly, if the Senator feels disposed to 
give one, 

" Mr. Davis. If you ask me for an answer, it is easy. I said 
your position was fruitful of such a result. I did not say you 
avowed the object — nothing of the sort, but the reverse. . . . 

"Mr. Fessenden. That is a matter of opinion, on which I 
have a right to entertain my view as well as the Senator his. . . . 

"Mr. Davis. Mr. President, I rise principally for the pur- 
pose of saying that I do not know whence springs this habit of 
talking about intimidation. I am not the first person toward 
whom a reply has been made, that we are not to carry our ends 
by intimidation. I try to intimidate nobody; I threaten nobody; 
and I do not believe — let me say it once for all — that any body 
is afraid of me — and I do not want any body to be afraid of me. 

"Mr. Fessenden. I am. [Laughter.] 

" Mr. Davis. I am sorry to hear it ; and if the Senator is 
really so, I shall never speak to him in decided terms again. 

"Mr. Fessenden. I speak of it only in an intellectual point 
of view. [Laughter.] 

"Mr. Davis. Then, sir, the Senator was in a Pickwickian 
sense when he began ; there were no threats, no intimidations, 
and he is just where he would have been if he had said nothing." 
[Laughter.] .... 

"While the Kansas question was pending in Congress, a 
sketch of Mr. Davis, in connection with two other prominent 
Southern Senators, whicli appeared in the correspondence of 
a leading journal, was extensively copied in the newspapers 



108 LIFE OF JEFFERSON DAVIS. 

of the day. We extract that portion which relates specially 
to Mr. Davis. The portrait is from the pen of one who had 
no sympathy with his political views : 

DAVIS, HUNTER, AND TOOMBS, 

THE SOUTHERN TRIUMVIRATE. 

[Correspondence of the Missouri Democrat.] 

" Washington Ci;rT, January 21. 
" Yesterday, when Hale was speaking, the right side of the cham- 
ber was empty, (as it generally is during the delivery of an anti- 
shxvery speech,) with the exception of a group of three who sat 
near the centre of the vacant space. This remarkable group, which 
wore the air if not the ensigns of power, authority, and public 
care, was composed of Senators Davis, Hunter, and Toombs. They 
were engaged in an earnest colloquy, tvhich, however, was foreign 
to the argument Hale was elaborating ; for though the connection 
of their words was broken before it reached the gallery, their 
voices were distinctly audible, and gave signs of their abstrac- 
tion. They were thinking aloud. If they had met together, 
under the supervision of some artist gifted with the faculty of 
illustrating history and character by attitude and expression, who 
designed to paint them, in fresco, on the walls of the new Senate 
chamber, the combination could not have been more appropriately 
arranged than chance arranged it on this occasion. Toombs sits 
among the opposition on the left, Hunter and Davis on the right; 
and the fiict that the two first came to Davis' seat — the one gravi- 
tating to it from a remote, the other from a near point — may be 
held to indicate which of the three is the preponderating body in 
the system, if preponderance there be; and whose figure should 
occupy the foreground of the picture if any precedence is to be 
accorded. Davis sat erect and composed ; Hunter, listening, rested 
his head on his hand; and ToombSj inclining forward, was speaking 



A PEX-ANJ)-1NK SKKTCH. 109 

vehemently. Their respective attitudes were no bad illustration 
of their individuality. Davis impressed the spectator, who ob- 
served the easy but authoritative bearing with which he put aside 
or assented to Toomb's suggestions, with the notion of some slight 
superiority, some hardly-acknowledged leadership ; and Hunter's 
attentiveness and impassibility were characteristic of his nature, 
for his profundity of intellect wears the guise of stolidity, and 
his continuous industry that of inertia ; while Toomb's quick ut- 
terance and restless head bespoke his nervous temperament and 
activity of mind. But, though each is diflPerent from either of 
the others, the three have several attributes in common. They 
are equally eminent as statesmen and debaters; they are devoted 
to the same cause; they are equals in rank, and rivals in ambi- 
tion ; and they are about the same age, and none of them — let 
young America take notice — wears either beard or mustache. I 
come again to the traits which distinguish them from each other. 
In face and form, Davis represents the Norman type with singu- 
lar fidelity, if my conception of that type be correct. He is tall 
and sinewy, with fair hair, gray eyes, which are clear rather than 
bright, high forehead, straight nose, thin, compressed lips, and 
pointed chin. His cheek bones are hollow, and the vicinity of 
his mouth is deeply furrowed with intersecting lines. Leanness 
of face, length and sharpness of feature, and length of limb, and 
intensity of expression, rendered acute by angular, facial outline, 
are the general characteristics of his appearance." 

The controversy, excited by the question of the admission 
of Kansas, can not be viewed as liaviiig terminated with the 
mere practical decision of her status, as a State tolerating or 
prohibiting slavery. Southern men had freely admitted the 
im})robability of the permanent abiding of the institution in 
that Territory, or elsewhere, north of the line of 36° 30', and 
their defeat had a far more alarm insr si<rnificance than the ex- 



110 T.IFE OF JEFFERSON DAVIS. 

elusion of slavery from soil where the laws of nature opposed 
its location. Important conclusions were deducible from the 
lesson of Kansas, which the South must have been smitten 
with voluntary blindness not to have accepted. Of the j^ur- 
pose of the Republican party, never to consent to the admission 
of additional slave States, there was added to constantly accu- 
mulating proof from other sources, the bold declarations of 
Abolition members of Congress. Recent experience clearly 
demonstrated that the South could no longer rely upon the 
Northern Democracy in suj)port of the plainest guarantees of 
the Constitution, for the protection of her property, when they 
were in conflict with the dominant fanaticism of that section. 
Accordingly, the Southern Democracy, wisely and bravely re- 
solved, and the unfortunate issue should not prejudge their 
action, to require of their Northern associates, as the condition 
of continued cooperation, a pledge of better faith in the future. 

It was in the progress of events, which may be justly called 
the sequel of the Kansas controversy, that Mr. Davis was most 
conspicuous during his second service in the Senate. His 
course was such as might have been anticipated from his zeal- 
ous and vigilant regard for constitutional principles, and the 
rights and interests of his section. His feeble health had pre- 
vented his frequent participation in the struggles incidental to 
the Kansas question, but in those subsequent struggles, w'hich 
marked the dissolution of the Democratic party, he was the 
constant, bold, and able adversary of Douglas. The ingenious 
sophistries of the latter were subjected to no more searching 
and scathing refutations than those with which Davis met his 
every attempt at their illustration. 

At this period the position of Mr. Davis was no less jirom- 
inent tlian in 1850, though his speeches were less frequent 



PAELIAMENTARY COXTPISTS WITH DOUGLAS. Ill 

and voluminous. Upon both occasions his elevation was an 
ample reward to honorable ambition, but would have been 
perilous in the extreme had he been deficient in those great 
and rare qualities which were necessary to its maintenance. 
Among his numerous contests with the distinguished expo- 
nents of the sentiment in opposition to the South, none are 
more memorable than his collisions with Douglas. 

Of these the most striking occurred on the 23d of Febru- 
ary, 1859, and on the 16th and 17th of May, 1860. To have 
matched Douglas with an ordinary contestant, must always 
have resulted in disaster; it would have been to renew the 
contest of Athelstane against Ivanhoe. Douglas was accus- 
tomed to testify, cheerfully, to the power of Davis, as evinced 
in their senatorial struggles; and it is very certain that at no 
other hands did he fare so badly, unless an exception be made 
in favor of the remarkable speech of Senator Benjamin, of 
Louisiana. The latter was an adept in the strategy of debate, 
a parliamentary Suchet. 

The 23d of February, 1859, was the occasion of a pro- 
tracted battle between Davis and Douglas, lasting from mid- 
day until nearly night. This speech of j\Ir. Davis is, in many 
respects, inferior to his higher oratorical efforts, realizing less 
of the forms of oratory which he usually illustrated so happily, 
and is wanting somewhat in that symmetry, harmony, and 
comeliness in all its features, with which his senatorial efforts 
are generally wrought to the perfection of expression. The 
circumstances under which it was delivered, however, fully 
meet this criticism, and show a most remarkable readiness for 
the instantaneous and hurried grapple of debate, and this latter 
quality was the strong point of Douglas' oratory. The latter 
had replied at great length, and with evident preparation, to a 



112 LIFE OF JEFFERSOX DAVIS. 

speech made by Mr. Duvis' colleague (Mr. Brown), who was 
not jDresent during Douglas' rejoinder. Without hesitation 
Mr. Davis assumed the place of his absent colleague, and tlie 
result was a running debate, lasting several hours, and exhib- 
iting on both sides all the vivacious readiness of a gladiatorial 
combat. 

In their ordinary and characteristic speeches there was an 
antithesis, no less marked than in their characters as men. 
Douglas was peculiarly American in his style of speaking. He 
dealt largely in the argumentum ad hominem; was very adroit 
in pointing out immaterial inconsistencies in his antagonists; 
he rarely discussed general principles; always avoided ques- 
tions of abstract political science, and struggled to force the 
entire question into juxtaposition with the practical consider- 
ations of the immediate present. 

In nearly all of Davis' speeches is recognized the pervasion 
of intellect, Avhich is preserved even in his most impassioned 
2)assagcs. He goes to the very '"'foundations of jurispru- 
dence," illustrates by historical example, and throws upon his 
subject the full radiance of that noble light which is shed by 
diligent inquiry into the abstract truths of political and moral 
science. Strength, animation, energy without vehemence, clas- 
sical elegance, and a luminous simplicity, are features in j\Ir. 
Davis' oratory which rendered him one of the most finished, 
logical, and effective of contemporary parliamentary speakers. 

During the Thirty-sixth Congress, which assembled in De- 
cember, 1859, Mr. Davis was the recognized leader of the 
Democratic majority of the Senate. His efforts, during this 
session, were probably the ablest of his life, and never did his 
great powers of analysis and generalization appear to greater 
advantage. On the second of February, 1860, jNIr. Davis pre- 



RESOLUTIONS. 113 

sentcd a series of seven resolves, ^vhicll embodied the views of 
the administration, of an overwhehiiing majority of the Dem- 
ocratic members of the Senate, and of the Southern Democ- 
racy, and were opposed by Mr. Douglas (though absent from 
the Senate by sickness), Mr. Pugh, and by the Abolition 
Senators. They are important as the substantial exjjression 
of the doctrines upon which the Southern Democracy were 
already prepared to insist at the approaching National Con- 
vention. 

The first resolution affirms the sovereignty of the States and 
their delegation of authority to the Federal Government, to 
secure each State against domestic no less than foreign dan- 
gers. This resolution was designexl with special reference to 
the recent outrages of John Brown and his associate conspira- 
tors, several of whom had expiated their crimes upon the gal- 
lows, at the hands of the authorities of Virginia. 

Resolution second affirms the recognition of slavery as prop- 
erty by the Constitution, and that all efforts to injure it by 
citizens of non-slaveholdiug States are violations of faith. 

Third insists upon the absolute equality of the States. 

The /our^A resolution of the series, which embodied the ma- 
terial point of difference between Mr. Douglas and the major- 
ity of Democratic Senators, was modified, as stated by Mr. 
Davis, "after conference with friends/' and finally made to 
read thus: 

*' Resolved, That neither Congress nor a Territorial Legislature, 
■wli<*thcr by direct legislation, or legislation of an indirect and un- 
friendly character, possesses power to annul or impair the consti- 
tutional right of any citizen of the United States to take his slave 
property into the common Territories, and there hold and enjoy 

the same while the territorial condition remains." 
8 



114 LIFE or JEFFERSON DAVIS. 

Fifth declares it the duty of Congress to supply any needed 
protection to constitutional rights in a Territory, provided the 
executive and judicial authority has not the adequate means. 

The sixth resolution was an emphatic repudiation of what 
Mr. Douglas, by an ingenious perversion of terms, and a bold 
array of sophisms, was pleased to designate "popular sover- 
eignty" — reading thus: 

'■'■Resolved, That the inhabitants of a Territory of the United 
States, when they rightfully form a couytitution to be admitted 
as a State into the Union, may then, for the first time, like the 
people of a State when forming a new constitution, decide for 
themselves whether slavery, as a domestic institution, shall be 
maintained or prohibited within their jurisdiction; and 'they shall 
be admitted into the Union, with or without slavery, as their con- 
stitution may prescribe at the time of their admission.'" 

The seventh and last of the series affirmed the validity and 
sanctity of the Fugitive Slave Law, and denounced all acts, 
whether of individuals or of State Legislatures, to defeat its 
action. 

The struggle upon these resolutions lasted more than three 
months, the Senate not reaching a vote upon the first of the 
series until May 24, 1860. They constituted substantially the 
platform presented by the South at the Charleston Democratic 
Convention, in April, and upon which, after the withdrawal 
of the Southern delegations, the Presidential ticket of Breck- 
inridge and Lane was nominated, and supported in tlie ensu- 
ing canvass, receiving the electoral votes of eleven States of 
the South. 

It was alleged against these resolutions, and the general 
principle of protection to Southern property in the Territo- 



DAA'IS' CONSISTENCY. 115 

ries, which their advocates demanded should be asserted in 
the Democratic creed, that they involved a new issue, raised 
for factious purposes, and were not sanctioned by any previous 
action of the party. This, even if it had been true, which 
assuredly it was not, constituted no sufficient reason for deny- 
ing a plain constitutional right. 

But, however sustained might have been this charge of in- 
consistency against other Southern leaders, it had no application 
to Davis. Indeed, Douglas unequivocally admitted that the 
position assumed by Davis in 1860 was precisely that to which 
he had held for twenty years previous. While the Oregon 
Bill was pending in the Senate, on the 23d of June, 1848, Mr. 
Davis offered this amendment: 

'^^ Provided, That nothing contained in this act shall be so con- 
strued as to authorize the prohibition of domestic slavery in said 
Territory whilst it remains in the condition of a Territory of the 
United States." 

Eleven years afterwards, in his address before the INIissis- 
sippi Democratic Convention, July 5, 1859, he said: 

" But if the rules of proceeding remain unchanged, then all the 
remedies of the civil law would be available for the protection of 
property in slaves; or if the language of the organic act, by spec- 
ifying chancery and common-law jurisdiction, denies to us the 
more ample remedies of the civil law, then those known to the 
common law are certainly in force; and these, I have been as- 
sured by the highest authority, will be found sufficient. If this 
be so, then we are content; if it should prove otherwise, then we 
but ask what justice can not deny — the legislation needful to en- 
able the General Government to perform its legitimate functions; 
and, in the meantime, we deny the power gf Congress to abridge 
• 



116 T.TFK OF JEFFERSOX DAVIS. 

or to destroy our constitutional rights, or of the Territorial Leg- 
islature to obstruct the remedies known to the common law of the 
United States." 

In 1848 he advocated General Cass' election in spite of the 
Nicholson letter, and not because he either approved or failed 
to detect the dangerous heresies which it contained. As a 
choice of evils, he preferred Cass, even upon the Nicholson 
letter, to General Taylor, his father-in-law, both because Cass 
was the choice of his own party, and he distrusted the influ- 
ences which he foresaw would govern the administration of 
Taylor. 

The attention of Mr. Davis was far from being confined 
to the slavery question and the issues which grew out of it 
during the important period which we have sketched. His 
extensive acquaintance with the practical labors of legisla-: 
tion, and his uniformly thorough information upon all ques- 
tions of domestic economy, foreign affliirs, the finances, and 
the army, were amply exemplified, to the great benefit of the 
country. 

During the debate in the Thirty-fifth Congress, on the bill 
proposing the issue of $20,000,000 of Treasury notes, which 
he opposed, he avowed himself in favor of the abolition of 
custom-houses, and the disbanding of the army of retainers 
employed to collect the import duties. Free trade was always 
an important article of his political creed. He valued its fra- 
ternizing effects upon mankind, its advantages to the laboring 
classes ; and held that, under a system of free trade, the Gov- 
ernment would not be defrauded. He traced the financial 
distress of the country, in the "crisis" of 1857, to its commer- 
cial dependence on New York, whose embarrassments must, so 
long as that dependence continued, always afflict the country 



VISITS THE XOKTfl. IIT 

at large. The army, as on previous occasions, received a large 
share of his attention, and he advocated its increase on a plan 
similar to that of Mr. Calhoun, when Secretary of War under 
President Monroe, providing a skeleton organization in peace, 
capable of expansion in the event of war. The fishing boun- 
ties he opposed, as being obnoxious to the objections urged 
against class legislation. 

In the summer of 1858, during the recess of Congress, ISIr. 
Davis visited the North, with a view to the recuperation of 
his health. Sailing from Baltimore to Boston, he traversed 
a considerable portion of New England, and sojourned for 
some time in Portland, Maine. His health was materially 
benefited by the bracing salubrity of that delightful locality, 
and, both here and at other points, he was received with dem- 
onstrations of profound respect. Upon several occasions he 
was persuaded to deliver public addresses, which were largely 
read and criticized. They were every-where commended for 
their admirable catholicity of sentiment, and not less for their 
bold assertions of principles than for their emphatic avowals of 
attachment to the union of the States. His speech at Port- 
land, Maine,* was especially admired for its statesman-like 
dignity, and was singularly free from partisan or sectional 
temper. In his journey through the States of Massachusetts 
and New York, he was tendered distinguished honors, and 
addressed the people of the leading cities. On the 10th of 
October, he spoke in Faneuil Hall, Boston, and, on the 19th, 
he addressed an immense Democratic ratification meeting in 
New York. 

The following is an extract from his address upon the lat- 
ter occasion : 

* To be found at the conclusion of this chapter. 



118 LIFE OF JEFFERSON DAVIS. 

" To each community belongs the right to decide for itself what 
institutions it will have — to each people sovereign in their own 
sphere. It belongs only to them to decide what shall be property. 
You have decided it for yourselves, Mississippi has done so. Who 
has the right to gainsay it? [Applause.] It was the assertion of 
the right of independence — of that very right which led your 
fathers into the war of the Revolution. [Applause.] It is that 
which constitutes the doctrine of State Rights, on which it is my 
pleasure to stand. Congress has no power to determine what shall 
be property anywhere. Congress has only such grants as are con- 
tained in the Constitution ; and it conferred no power to rule with 
despotic hands over the independence of the Territories." 

The second se.ssion of the Thirty-fifth Congress was com- 
paratively uneventful. Mr. Davis was an influential advocate 
of the Pacific Railroad by the Southern route. His most elab- 
orate effort during this session was his argument against the 
French Spoliation Bill — denying that the failure of the Gov- 
ernment, in its earlier history, to prosecute the just claims of 
American citizens on the Government of France, made it in- 
cumbent upon the present generation to satisfy the obligations 
of justice incurred in the past. 

In reply to an invitation to attend the Webster Birthday 
Festival, held in Boston, in January, 1859, Mr. Davis wrote 
as follows : 

"At a time when partisans avow the purpose to obliterate the 
landmarks of our fathers, and fanaticism assails the barriers they 
erected for the protection of rights coeval with and essential to 
the existence of the Union — when Federal offices have been sought 
by inciting constituencies to hostile aggi-essions, and exercised, not 
as a trust for the common welfare, but as the means of disturbing 
domestic tranquillity — when oaths to support the Constitution have 



PATRIOTIC SENTIMENTS. 119 

been taken with a mental ie.servation to disregard its spirit, and 
subvert the purposes for which it was established — surely it be- 
comes all who are faithful to the compact of our Union, and who 
are resolved to maintain and preserve it, to compare differences 
on questions of mere expediency, and, forming deep around the 
institutions we inherited, stand united to uphold, with unfalterin"- 
intent, a banner on which is inscribed the Constitutional Union 
of free, equal, and independent States. 

" May the vows of ' love and allegiance,' which you propose to 
renew as a fitting tribute to the memory of the illustrious states- 
man whose birth you commemorate, find an echo in the heart of 
every patriot in our land, and tend to the revival of that frater- 
nity which bore our fathers through the Revolution to the con- 
summation of the independence they transmitted to us, and the 
establishment of the more perfect Union which their wisdom de- 
vised to bless their posterity for ever ! 

"Though deprived of the pleasure of mingling my affectionate 
memories and aspirations with yours, I send you my cordial greet- 
ing to the friends of the Constitution, and ask to be enrolled 
among those whose mission is, by fraternity and good faith to every 
constitutional obligation, to insure that, from the Aroostook to 
San Diego, from Key West to Puget's Sound, the grand arch of 
our political temple shall stand unshaken." 

In the meantime a variety of events measurably added to 
the vehemence of the sectional dispute, which never, for a mo- 
ment, had exhibited any abatement since the opening of the 
Kansas imbroglio. The antagonism between the two sections, 
becoming more and more pronounced eacli day, rapidly de- 
veloped the true character of the struggle, as one for existence 
on the part of the South, against the revolutionary designs of 
the North. Mr. Seward, the Ajax of Black Republicanism, 



120 LIFE OF JEFFEESON DAVIS. 

the founder and leader of the party organized for the destruc- 
tion of Southern institutions, in the foil of 1858, at the city of 
Rochester, for the first time proclaimed his revolutionary doc- 
trine of an '' irrepressible conflict " between the civilizations of 
the two sections. This announcement, from such a source, 
could only be accepted by the South as a menace to her peace 
and security. Such was her construction of it. 

In his address before the Mississippi Democratic Conven- 
tion, in July, 1859, from which we have already quoted, Mr. 
Davis said : 

"We have witnessed the organizatiou of a party seeking the 
possession of the Government, not for the common good, not for 
their own particular benefit, but as the means of executing a hos- 
tile purpose against a portion of the States." 

Approaching more directly the doctrine of Mr. Seward, he 
said: 

"The success of such a party would indeed produce an 'irre-. 
pressible conflict.' To you would be presented the question, \Yill 
you allow the Constitutional Union to be changed into the des- 
potism of a majority? Will you become the subjects of a hostile 
Government? or will you, outside of the Union, assert the equal- 
ity, the liberty and sovereignty to which you were born? For 
myself I say, as I said on a former occas^ion, in the contingency 
of the election of a President on the platform of Mr. Seward's 
Rochester speech, let the Union be dissolved. Let the ' great, but 
not the greatest, evil ' come ; for, as did the great and good Cal- 
houn, from whom is drawn that expression of value, I love and 
venerate the Union of these States, but I love liberty and Missis- 
sippi more." 

When Congress assembled, in December, 1859, the lawless 



DEMOCRATIC PARTY DISSOLVED. 121 

expedition of John Brown had greatly accelerated the inevit- 
able climax of disunion. Thenceforward the incipient revo- 
lution was, to a great extent, transferred from the hands of 
Congress, whose action was but lightly regarded in comparison 
with the animated scenes which marked the State conventions 
and popular assemblages, held with reference to the approach- 
ing presidential nominations. 

^Ir. Davis approved the test made at the Charleston Con- 
vention, by the Southern Democracy, as to the construction of 
the Cincinnati platform, and the demand for a more explicit 
announcement of the position of the party concerning slavery 
in the Territories. His speech, in reply to Judge Douglas, 
on the IGth and 17th of May, 18G0, is a vindication of 
Southern action at Charleston, and an exhaustive discussion 
of all the phases of the issue upon which the Democracy had 
divided. 

Events soon demonstrated the irreconcilable nature of the 
antagonism which had severed this giant organization. It had 
simply realized the destiny of political parties. In one genera- 
tion they rise, as a virtue and a necessity, to remedy disorders 
and reform abuses ; in another generation, they are themselves 
the apologists of corruption and the perpetrators of wrong. 
The Democratic party became ini^nsiblc to the appeals of prin- 
ciple, and its fifty years' lease of power terminated, not speedily 
to be recovered. 

HON. JEFFERSON DAVIS AT PORTLAND, MAINE. 

[From the Eastern Argus.] 

"SVe are gratified in being able to ofier our readers a faithful 
and quite full report of the speech of Hon. Jeflferson Davis, of 
Mississippi, on the occasion of the serenade given him by the 



122 LIFE OF JEFFERSON DAVIS. 

citizens of Portland, without distinction of party, on Friday even- 
ing last. It will be read with interest and pleasure, and we can 
not doubt that every sentiment, uttered by the distinguished Mis- 
sissippian, will find a hearty response and approval from the citi- 
zens of Maine. The occasion was indeed a pleasing, a hopeful one. 
It was in every respect the expression of generous sentiments, of 
kindness, hospitality, friendly regard, and the brotherhood of 
American citizenship. Prominent men of all parties were present, 
and the expression, without exception, so far as we have heard, 
has been that of unmingled gratification; and the scene was 
equally pleasant to look upon. The beautiful mansion of Ren- 
sallaer Cram, Esq., directly opposite to Madame Blanchard's, was 
illuminated, and the light thrown from the windows of the two 
houses revealed to view the large and perfectly orderly assemblage 
with which Park and Danforth Streets were crowded. We regret 
that our readers can get no idea of the musical voice and inspiring 
eloquence of the speaker from a report of his remarks ; but it is 
the best we can do for them. After the music had ceased, Mr. 
Davis appeared upon the steps, and as soon as the prolonged 
applause with which he was greeted had subsided, he spoke in 
substance as follows : 

Fellow-citizens: Accept my sincere thanks for this mani- 
festation of your kindness. Vanity does not lead me so far to 
misconceive your purpose as to appropriate the demonstration to 
myself; but it is not the less gratifying to me to be made the 
medium through which Maine tenders an expression of regard to 
her sister, Mississippi. It is, moreover, with feelings of profound 
gratification that I witness this indication of that national senti- 
ment and fraternity which made us, and which alone can keep us, 
one people. At a period but as yesterday, when compared with 
the life of nations, these States were separate, and, in some re- 
spects, opposing colonies, their only relation to each other was, 



SPEECH AT PORTLAND. 123 

that of a common allegiance to the Government of Great Britain. 
So separate, indeed almost hostile, was their attitude, that when 
General Stark, of Bennington memory, was captured by savages on 
the headwaters of the Kennebec, he was subsequently taken by 
them to Albany, where they went to sell furs, and again led away 
a captive, without interference on the part of the inhabitants of 
that neighboring colony to demand or obtain his release. United 
as we now are, were a citizen of the United States, as an act of 
hostility to our country, imprisoned or slain in any quarter of the 
world, whether on land or sea, the people of each and every State 
of the Union, with one heart and with one voice, would demand 
redress, and woe be to him against whom a brother's blood cried 
to us from the ground. Such is the fruit of the wisdom and the 
justice with which our fathers bound contending colonies into 
confederation, and blended different habits and rival interests into 
a harmonious whole, so that, shoulder to shoulder, they entered on 
the trial of the Revolution, and step with step trod its thorny 
paths until they reached the height of national independence, and 
founded the constitutional representative liberty which is our 
birthright. 

When the mother country entered upon her career of oppres- 
sion, in disregard of chartered and constitutional rights, our fore- 
fathers did not stop to measure the exact weight of the burden, or 
to ask whether the pressure bore most upon this colony or upon 
that, but saw in it the infraction of a great principle, the denial of 
a common right, in defense of which they made common cause — 
Massachusetts, Virginia, and South Carolina vicing with each other 
as to who should be foremost in the struggle, where the penalty 
of failure would be a dishonorable grave. Tempered by the trials 
and sacrifices of the Revolution, dignified by its noble purposes, 
elevated by its brilliant triumphs, endeared to each other by its 
glorious memories, they abandoned the Confederacy, not to fly 
apart when the outward pressure of hostile fleets and armies were 



124 LIFE OF JEFFERSON DAVIS. 

removed, but to draw closer tlieir embrace in the formation of a 
more perfect Union. 

By such men, thus trained and ennobled, our Constitution was 
framed. It stands a monument of principle, of forecast, and, above 
all, of that liberality which made each willing to sacrifice local 
interest, individual prejudice, or temporary good to the general 
welfare and the perpetuity of the republican institutions which 
they had passed through fire and blood to secure. The grants 
were as broad as were necessary for the functions of the general 
agent, and the mutual concessions were twice blessed, blessing 
him who gave and him who received. Whatever was necessary for 
domestic government — requisite in the social organization of each 
community — was retained by the States and the people thereof; 
and these it was made the duty of all to defend and maintain. 
Such, in very general terms, is the rich political legacy our fathers 
bequeathed to us. Shall we preserve and transmit it to posterity? 
Yes, yes, the heart responds; and the judgment answers, the task 
is easily performed. It but requires that each should attend to 
that which most concerns him, and on which alone he has rightful 
power to decide and to act; that each should adhere to the terms 
of a written compact, and that all should cooperate for that which 
interest, duty, and honor demand. 

For the general affairs of our country, both foreign and domes- 
tie, we have a national Executive and a national Legislature. 
Kepresentatives and Senators are chosen by districts and by 
States, but their acts aifect the whole country, and their obliga- 
tions are to the whole people. He who, holding either seat, would 
confine his investigations to the mere ititerests of his imme- 
diate constituents, would be derelict to his plain duty; and he who 
would legislate in hostility to any section, would be morally unfit 
for the station, and surely an unsafe depository, if not a treach- 
erous guardian, of the inheritance with which we are blessed. Xo 
one more than myself recognizes the binding force of the alle- 



SPEECH AT PORTI.AND. 125 

giance which the citizen owes to the State of his citizenship, but 
that State being a party to our compact, a member of the Uuion, 
fealty to the Federal Constitution is not in opposition to, but 
flows from the allegiance due to one of the United States. Wash- 
ington was not less a Virginian when he commanded at Boston, 
nor did Gates or Greene weaken the bonds which bound them to 
their several States by their campaigns in the South. In propor- 
tion as a citizen loves his own State, will he strive to honor by 
preserving her name and her fame free from the tarnish of having 
fiuled to observe her obligations and to fulfill her duties to her 
sister States. Each page of our history is illustrated by the 
names and deeds of those who have well understood and dis- 
charged the obligation. Have we so degenerated that we can no 
longer emulate their virtues? Have the purposes for which our 
Union was formed lost their value? Has patriotism ceased to be 
a virtue, and is narrow sectionalism no longer to be counted a 
crime? Shall the North not rejoice that the progress of agricul- 
ture in the South has given to her great staple the controlling 
influence of the commerce of the world, and put manufiicturing 
nations under bond to keep the peace with the United States? 
Shall the South not exult in the fact that the industry and per- 
severing intelligence of the North has placed her mechanical skill 
in the front ranks of the civilized world — that our mother country, 
whose haughty Minister, some eighty odd years ago, declared that 
not a hob-nail should be made in the colonies, which are now the 
United States, was brought, some four years ago, to recognize our 
preeminence by sending a commission to examine our workshops 
and our machinery, to perfect their own manufacture of the arms 
requisite for their defense? Do not our whole people, interior and 
soaboard, North, South, East and West, alike feel proud of the 
hardihood, the enterprise, the skill, and the courage of the Yankee 
pallor, who has borne our flag far as the ocean bears its foam, and 
caused the name and character of the United States to be known 



126 LIFE OF JEFFEESOX DAVIS. 

I 

and respected wherever tliere is wealth enough to woo commerce 

and intelligence to honor merit? So long as we preserve and 
appreciate the achievements of Jefferson and Adams, of Franklin 
and Madison, of Hamilton, of Hancock, and of Rutledge, men 
who labored for the whole country, and lived for mankind, we can 
not sink to the petty strife which would sap the foundations and 
destroy the political fabric our fathers erected and bequeathed as 
an inheritance to our posterity forever. 

Since the formation of the Constitution a vast extension of ter- 
ritory, and the varied relations arising therefrom, have presented 
problems which could not have been foreseen. It is just cause 
for admiration, even wonder, that the provisions of the funda- 
mental law should have been so fully adequate to all the wants 
of government, new in its organization, and new in many of the 
principles on which it was founded Whatever fears may have 
once existed as to the consequences of territorial expansion must 
give way before the evidence which the past affords. The General 
Government, strictly confined to its delegated functions, and the 
State left in the undisturbed exercise of all else, we have a theory 
and practice which fits our Government for immeasurable domain, 
and might, under a millennium of nations, embrace mankind. 

From the slope of the Atlantic our population, with ceaseless 
tide, has poured into the wide and fertile valley of the Missis- 
sippi, with eddying whirl has passed to the coast of the Pacific ; 
from the West and the East the tides are rushing toward each 
other, and the mind is carried to the day when all the cultivable 
land will be inhabited, and the American people will sigh for 
more wildernesses to conquer. But there is here a physico-polit- 
ical problem presented for our solution. Were it purely physical 
your past triumphs would leave but little doubt of your capacity 
to solve it. • A community which, when less than twenty thousand, 
conceived the grand project of crossing the White Mountains, and 
unaided, save by the stimulus which jeers and prophecies of failure 



SPEECH AT I'OllTEAND. 127 

gave, successfully executed the Herculean work, might well be 
iuipatieut if it were suggested that a physical problem was before 
us too difl&cult for mastery. The history of man teaches that hi^h 
mountains and wide deserts have resisted the permanent extension 
of empire, and have formed the immutable boundaries of States. 
From time to time, under some able leader, have the hordes of 
the upper plains of Asia swept over the adjacent country, and 
rolled their conquering columns over Southern Europe. Yet, after 
the lapse of a few generations, the physical law, to which I have 
referred, has asserted its supremacy, and the boundaries of those 
States differ little now from those which were obtained three thou- 
sand years ago. 

Rome flew her conquering eagles over the then known world, 
and has now subsided iuto the little territory on which the great 
city was originally built. The Alps and the Pyranees have been 
unable to restrain imperial France; but her expansion was a fever- 
ish action, her advance and her retreat were tracked with blood, 
and those mountain ridges are the reestablished limits of her em- 
pire. Shall the Rocky Mountains prove a dividing barrier to us? 
Were ours a central consolidated Government, instead of a Union 
of sovereign States, our fate might be learned from the history of 
other nations. Thanks to the wisdom and independent spirit of 
our forefathers, this is not the case. Each State having sole charfre 
of its local interests and domestic affairs, the problem, which to 
others has been insoluble, to us is made easy. Rapid, safe, and 
easy communication between the Atlantic and the Pacific will give 
co-intelligence, unity of interest, and cooperation among all parts 
of our continent-wide Republic. The net-work of railroads which 
bind the North and the South, the slope of the Atlantic and the 
valley of the Mississippi, together testify that our people have the 
power to perform, in that regard, whatever it is their will to do. 

We require a railroad to the States of the Pacific for present 
uses ; the time no doubt will come when we hhall have need of 



128 LIFE OF JEFFEESOX DAYIS. 

two or three, it may be, more. Because of the desert character 
of the interior country the work will be difficult and expensive. 
It will require the efforts of a united people. The bickerings of 
little politicians, the jealousies of sections must give way to dig- 
nity of purpose and zeal for the common good. If the object be 
obstructed by contention and division as to whether the route 
shall be Northern, Southern, or Central, the handwriting is on the 
wall, and it requires little skill to see that failure is the interpre- 
tation of the inscription. You are practical people, and may ask, 
How is that contest to be avoided? By taking the question out 
of the hands of politicians altogether. Let the Government give 
such aid as it is proper for it to render to the company which 
shall propose the most feasible plan ; then leave to capitalists with 
judgment, sharpened by interest, the selection of the route, and 
the difficulties will diminish, as did those which you overcame 
when you connected your harbor with the Canadian provinces. 

It would be to trespass on your kindness and to violate the pro- 
prieties of the occasion were I to detain the vast concourse which 
stands before me by entering on the discussion of controverted 
topics, or by further indulging in the expression of such reflec- 
tions as circumstances suggest. I came to your city in quest of 
health and repose. From the moment I entered it you have show- 
ered upon me kindness and hospitality. Though my experience 
has taught me to anticipate good rather than evil from my fellow- 
man, it had not prepared me to expect such unremitting atten- 
tion as has here been bestowed. I have been jocularly asked in 
relation to my coming here, whether I had secured a guarantee for 
my safety, and lo ! I have found it. I stand in the midst of thou- 
sands of my fellow-citizens. But, my friends, I came neither dis- 
trusting nor apprehensive, of which you have proof in the fact 
that I brought with me the objects of tcnderest affection and solic- 
itude, my wife and my children ; they have shared with me your 
hospitality, and will alike remain your debtors. If, at some future 



SPEECH AT PORTLAND. 129 

time, when I am mingled with the dust, und the arm of my in- 
fant son has been nerved for deeds of manhood, the storm of" war 
should burst upon your city, I feel that, relying upon his inher- 
iting the instincts of his ancestors and mine, I may pledge him in 
that perilous hour to stand by your side iu tlie defense of your 
hearth-stones, and in maintaining the honor of a flag whose con- 
stellation, though torn and smoked iu many a battle by sea and 
laud, has never been stained with dishonor, and will, I trust, for- 
ever fly as free as the breeze which unfolds it. 

A stranger to you, the salubrity of your location, and the beauty 
of its scenery were not wholly unknown to me, nor were there 
wanting associations which busy memory connected with your 
people. You will pardon me for alluding to one whose genius 
shed a lustre upon all it touched, and whose qualities gathered 
about him hosts of friends wherever he was known. Prentiss, a 
native of Portland, lived from youth to middle age in the county 
of my residence; and the inquiries which have been made show 
me that the youth excited the interest which the greatness of the 
man justified, and that his memory thus remains a link to con- 
nect your home with mine. A cursory view, when passing through 
your town on former occasions, had impressed me with the great 
advantages of your harbor, its easy entrance, its depth, and its 
extensive accommodations for shipping. But its advantages and 
its facilities, as they have been developed by closer inspection, 
have grown upon me, until I realize that it is no boast, but the 
language of sober truth, which, in the present state of commerce, 
pronounces them unequaled in any harbor of our country. 

And surely no place could be more inviting to an invalid who 
sought refuge from the heat of Southern summer. Here waving 
elms off"er him shaded walks, and magnificent residences, sur- 
rounded by flowers, fill the mind with ideas of comfort and rest. 
If, weary of constant contact with his fellow-men, he seeks a deeper 
seclusion, there, in the background of this grand amphitheater, 
9 



130 LIFE OF JEFFERSON DAVIS, 

lie the eternal mountains, frowning witli brow of rock and cap of 
snow upon smiling fields beneath, and there in its recesses may be 
found as much wilduess and as much of solitude as the pilgrim, 
weary of the cares of life, can desire. If he turn to the front, 
your capacious harbor, studded with green islands of ever-varying 
light and shade, and enlightened by all the stirring evidences of 
commercial activity, offer him the mingled charms of busy life 
and nature's calm repose. A few miles further, and he may sit 
upon the quiet shore to listen to the murmuring wave until the 
troubled spirit sinks to rest ; and in the little sail that vanishes 
on the illimitable sea we find the type of the voyage which he is 
soon to take, when, his ephemeral existence closed, he embarks for 
that better state which lies beyond the grave. 

Richly endowed as you are by nature in all which contributes 
to pleasure and to usefulness, the stranger can not pass without 
paying a tribute to the much which your energy has achieved for 
yourselves. Where else will one find a more happy union of mag- 
nificence and comfort? Where better arrangements to facilitate 
commerce? Where so much of industry with so little noise and 
bustle ? Where, in a phrase, so much efi"ected in proportion to 
the means employed ? We hear the puff" of the engine, the roll 
of the wheel, the ring of the ax and the saw, but the stormy, 
passionate exclamation so often mingled with the sounds are no- 
where heard. Yet neither these nor other things which I have 
mentioned, attractive though they be, have been to me the chief 
charm which I have found among you. Far above all these, I 
place the gentle kindness, the cordial welcome, the hearty grasp 
which made me feel truly and at once, though wandering afar, 
that I was still at home. My friends, I thank you for this addi- 
tional manifestation of your good-will. 



REPLY TO SENATOR DOUGLAS. 131 

REPLY OF HON. JEFFERSON DAVIS, OF MISSISSIPPI, TO THE 
SPEECH OF SENATOR DOUGLAS, IN THE UNITED STATES 
SENATE, May 10 and 17, 18G0. 

[The Senate resumed the consideration of the resolutions submitted by 
Mr. Davis on the first of .March, relative to State rights, the institution of 
slavery in the States, and the rights of citizens of the several States in the 
Territories.] 

Mr. Douglas having concluded his speech — 

Mr. Davis arose and said: 

J/r. President: When the Senator from Illinois commenced his 
speech, he announced his object to be to answer to an arraign- 
ment, or, as he also termed it, an indictment, which he said I had 
made against him. He therefore caused extracts to be read from 
my remarks to the Senate. Those extracts announce that I have 
been the uniform opponent of what is called squatter sovereignty, 
and that, having opposed it heretofore, I was now, least of all, 
disposed to give it quarter. At a subsequent period, the fact was 
stated that the Senator from Illinois and myself had been opposed 
to each other, on those questions which I considered as most dis- 
tinctly involving Southern interests in 1850. He has not answered 
to the allegation. He has not attempted to show that he did not 
stand in that position. It is true he has associated himself with 
Mr. Clay, and, before closing, I will show that the association does 
not belong to him ; that upon those test questions they did not 
vote together. lie then, somewhat vauntingly, reminded me that 
he was with the victorious party, asserted that the Democracy of 
the country then sustained his doctrine, and that I was thus out- 
side of that organization. With Mr. Clay! If he had been with 
him, he would have been in good company; but the old Jackson 
Democracy will be a little surprised to learn that Clay was the 
leader of our party, and that a man proves his allegiance to it by 
showing how closely he followed in the footsteps of Ileury Clay. 



132 LIFE OF JEFFERSON DAVIS. 

"When the Senator opened his argument, by declaring; his pur- 
j)ose to be fair and courteous, I little supposed that an explanation 
made by me in favor of the Secretary of State, and which could 
not at all disturb the line of his argument, would have been fol- 
lowed by the rude announcement that he could not permit inter- 
ruption thereafter. A Senator has the right to claim exemption 
from interruption if he will follow the thread of his argument, 
direct his discourse to the question at issue, and confine himself to 
it ; but if he makes up a medley of arraignments of the men who 
have been in public life for ten years past, and addressing indi- 
viduals in his presence, he should permit an interruption to be 
made for correction as often as he misrepresents their position. It 
would have devolved on me more than once, if I had been re- 
sponsible for his frequent references to me, to correct him and 
show that he misstated facts; but as he would not permit himself 
to be interrupted, I am not responsible for any thing he has im- 
puted to me. 

The Senator commenced with a disclaimer of any purpose to 
follow what he considered a bad practice of arraigning Senators 
here on matters for which they stood responsible to their constitu- 
ents ; but straightway proceeded to make a general arraignment 
of the present and the absent. I believe I constitute the only 
exception to whom he granted consistency, and that at the expense 
of party association, and, he would have it, at the exj^euse of sound 
judgment. He not only arraigned individuals, but even States — 
Florida, Alabama, and Georgia — were brought to answer at the bar 
of the Senate for the resolutions they had passed ; Virginia was 
held responsible for her policy ; Mississippi received his critical 
notice. Pray, sir, what had all this to do with the question? 
Especially, what had all this to do with what he styled an in- 
dictment against him? It is a mere resort to a species of dec- 
lamation which has not been heard to-day for the first time ; a 
pretext to put himself in the attitude of a persecuted man, and, 



EEPLY TO SENATOR DOUGLAS. 133 

like the satyr's guest, blowing hot and cold iu the .same breath, 
iu the midst of his complaiut of persecution, vaunts his supreme 
power. If his opponents be the very small minority which he de- 
scribes, what fear has he of persecution or proscription ? 

Can he not draw a distinction between one who says: "I give 
no quarter to an idea," and one who proclaims the policy of put- 
ting the advocates of that idea to the sword? Such was his fijzur- 
ative language. That figure of the sword, however, it seemed, "as 
he progressed in his development, referred to the one thought 
always floating through his brain — exclusion from the spoils of 
office, for, at last, it seemed to narrow down to the supposition that 
no man who agreed with him was, with our consent, to be either 
a Cabinet officer or a collector. Who has advanced any such doc- 
trine? Have I, at this or any other period of my acquaintance 
with him, done any thing to justify him in attributing that opinion 
to me? I pause for his answer. 

Mr. Douglas. I do not exactly understand the Senator. I 
have no complaint to make of the Senator from Mississippi of ever 
having been unkind or ungenerous towards me, if that is what he 
means to say. 

Mr. Davis. Have I ever promulgated a doctrine which indi- 
cated that if my friends were iu power, I would sacrifice every other 
wing of the Democratic party? 

Mr. Douglas. I understood the making of a test on this issue 
iagainst me would reach every other man that held my opinions ; 
and, therefore, if I was not sound enough to hold office, no man 
agreeing with me would be; and hence, every man of my opinions 
would be excluded. 

Mr. Davis. Ah, Mr. President ; I believe I now have caught 
the clue to the argument; it was not before apprehended. I w;is 
among those who thought the Senator, with his opinions, ought 
not to be chairman of the Committee on Territories. This, I sup- 
pose, then, is the whole imposition. But have I not said to the 



134 LIFE OF JEFFERSON DAVIS. 

Senator, at least once, that I had no disposition to question his 
Democracy ; that I did not wish to withhold from him any tribute 
which was due to his talent and his worth ? Did I not offer to re- 
sign the only chairmanship of a committee I had if the Senate 
would confer it upon him ? Then, where is this spirit of proscrip- 
tion the complaint of which has constituted some hours of his 
speech ? If others have manifested it, I do not know it ; and as 
the single expression of " no quarter to the doctrine of squatter 
sovereignty" was the basis of his whole allegation, I took it for 
granted his reference to a purpose to do him and his friends such 
wrong must have been intended for me. 

The fact that the Senator criticised the idea of the States pre- 
scribing the terms on which they will act in a party convention 
recognized to be representative, is suggestive of an extreme mis- 
conception of relative position ; and the presumption with which 
the Senator censured what he was pleased to term " the seceders," 
suggested to me a representation of the air of the great monarch 
of France when, feeling royalty and power all concentrated in his 
own person, he used the familiar yet remarkable expression, "the 
State, that's me." Does the Senator consider it a modest thing iu 
him to announce to the Democratic Convention on what terms he 
will accept the nomination; but presumptuous in a State to de- 
clare the principle on which she will give him her vote? It is an 
advance on Louis Quatorze. 

Nothing but the most egregious vanity, something far surpassing 
even the bursting condition of swollen pride, could have induced 
the Senator to believe that I could not speak of squatter sover- 
eignty without meaning him. 

Towards the Senator, personally, I have never manifested hos- 
tility — indeed, could not, because I have ever felt kindly. Many 
years of association, very frequent cooperation, manly support 
from him in times of trial, are all remembered by me gratefully. 
The Senator, therefore, had no right to assume that I was making 



RErLY TO SENATon DOUGLAS. 135 

war upon him. I addrcspcd myself to a doctrine of which he was 
not the founder, though he was one of the early disciples ; but he 
proved an unprofitable follower, for he became rebellious, and 
ruined the logic of the doctrine. It was logical in ]Mr. Cass's 
mind ; he claimed the power to be inherent in the people who 
settled a new Territory, and by this inherent power he held that 
they might proceed to form government and to exercise its func- 
tions. There was logic in that — logic up to the point of sover- 
eignty. Not so with the Senator. He says the inhabitants of the 
Territories derive their power to form a government from the con- 
sent of Congress; that when we decide that there are enough of 
them to constitute a government, and enact an organic law, then 
they have power to legislate according to their will. This power 
being derived from an act of Congress — a limited agency tied down 
to the narrow sphere of the constitutional grant — is made, by that 
supposition, the bcstower of sovereignty on its creature. 

I had occasion the other day to refer to the higher law as it 
made its first appearance on earth — the occasion when the tempter 
entered the garden of Eden. There is another phase of it. "Who- 
ever attempts to interpose between the supreme law of the Creator 
and the creature, whether it be in the regions of morals or politics, 
proclaims a theory that wars upon every principle of government. 
When Congress, the agent for the States, within the limits of its 
authority, forms, as it were, a territorial constitution by its organic 
act, he who steps in and proclaims to the settlers in that Territory 
that they have the right to overturn the Government, to usurp to 
themselves powers not delegated, is preaching the higher law in 
the domain of polities, which is only less mischievous than its 
other form, because the other involves both politics and morals iu 
one ruinous confusion. 

The Senator spoke of the denial of Democratic fellow.^hip to 
him. After what has been said and acknowledged by the Senator, 
it is not to be supposed that it could have any application to me. 



136 LIFE OF JEFFERSON DAVIS. 

It may be proper to add, I know of no sucli denial on the part of 
other Democratic Senators. Far be it from me to vaunt the fact of 
being in a majority, and to hold him to the hard rule he prescribes 
to us, of surrendering an opinion where we may happen to have 
been in a minority. Were I to return now to him the measure 
with which he metes to us, when he assumes that a majority in the 
Charleston Convention has a right to prescribe what shall be our 
tenets, I might, in reply to him, say, as a sincere adherent of the 
Democratic party, how can you oppose the resolutions pending 
before the Senate? If twenty-seven majority in a body of three 
hundred and three constituent members had, as he assumes, the 
power to la}^ down a binding law, what is to be said of him who, 
with a single adherent, stands up against the whole of his Dem- 
ocratic associates ? He must be outside of the party, according to 
his enunciation ; he must be wandering in the dark regions to 
which he consigns the followers of Mr. Yancey. 

The Senator said he had no taste for references to things which 
were personal, and then proceeded to discuss that of which he 
showed himself profoundly ignorant — the condition of things in 
Mississippi. It is disagreeable for me to bring before the Senate 
matters which belong to my constituents and myself, and I should 
not do so but for the fact of their introduction into the Senator's 
elaborate speech, which is no doubt to be spread over all parts of the 
country. The Senator, by some means or other, has the name of 
very many citizens of Mississippi, and as there is nothing in our 
condition to attract his special attention, his speech is probably to 
be sent over a wide field of correspondence ; and it is, therefore, 
tlie more incumbent on me to notice his attempt to give a history 
of affairs that were transacted in Mississippi. He first announces 
that Mississippi rebuked the idea of intervention asserted in 1850; 
then that Mississippi rejected my appeal ; that Mississippi voted 
on the issue made up by the compromise measure of 1850, and 
vaunts it as an approval of that legislation of which he was the 



REPLY TO SENATOR DOUGLAS. 137 

advocate and I the opponent. Now, Mississippi did uoue of these 
things, Mississippi instructed her Senators, and I obeyed her 
instructions. I introduced into this body the resolutions which 
directed ray course. On that occasion I vindicated Mississippi, 
and especially the Southern rights men, from the falsehood of 
that day, and reiterated now, of a purpose to dissolve the Union. 
I vindicated her by extracts from the proceedings as well of her 
convention as of her primary assemblies; and my remarks on that 
occasion, as fully as the events to which he referred in terms of 
undeserved compliment, justified the Senator in saying to-day that 
he knew I had always been faithful to the Government of which I. 
was a part. 

Acting under the instructions from Mississippi — not merely 
voting and yielding reluctant compliance ; but, according to my 
ideas of the obligation of a Senator, laboring industriously and 
zealously to carry out the instructions which my State gave me, I 
took and maintained the position I held in relation to the meas- 
ures of 1850. As it was with me a cordial service, I went home 
to vindicate the position which was hers, as well as my own. 
Shortly after that a canvass was opened, in which a distinguished 
gentlemen of our party, who had not been a member of Congress, 
was nominated for Governor. Questions other than the compro- 
mise measures of 1850 arose in that canvass ; they were discussed 
in a great degree to the exclusion of a consideration of the merits 
of the action of Congress in 1850; and, at the election in Septem- 
ber, for delegates to a convention, we had fallen from a party ma- 
jority of some eight thousand to a minority of nearly the same 
number. It was after the decision of the question involved in 
calling a convention — after our party was defeated — after the can- 
didate for Governor had retired, that the Democracy of Mississippi 
called upon me to bear their standard. It was esteemed a forloru 
hope, therefore an obligation of honor not to decline the invita- 
tion. But so far as the action in the Senate in 1850 was cou- 



138 LIFE OF JEFFERSON DAVIS. 

cerned, if it had any effect, it must have been the reverse of that 
assumed, as, in the subsequent election for State officers on the 
first Monday in November, this majority of nearly eight thousand 
against us was reduced to about one thousand. 

But when this convention assembled, though a large majority 
of the members belonged to the party which the Senator has been 
pleased to term the " Submissionists " — a name which they always 
rejected — this convention of the party most adverse to me, when 
they came to act on the subject said, after citing the "compro- 
mise" measures of the Congress of 1850 : 

" And connected with them, the rejection of the proposition to 
exclude slavery from the Territories of the United States, and to 
abolish it in the District of Columbia ; and, while they do not 
entirely approve, will abide by it as a permanent adjustment of this 
sectional controversy, so long as the same, in all its features, shall 
be faithfully adhered to and enforced.'* 

Then they go on to recite six different causes, for which they 
will resort to the most extreme remedies which we had supposed 
ever could be necessary. The case only requires that I should say 
that the party to which I belonged did not then, nor at any pre- 
vious time, propose to go out of the Union, but to have a South- 
ern convention for consultation as to future contingencies, threat- 
ened and anticipated. It was at last narrowed down to the ques- 
tion, whether we should meet South Carolina and consult with her. 
Honoring that gallant State for the magnanimity she had mani- 
fested in the first efforts for the creation of the G-overnment, in the 
preliminaries to the struggle for independence, when she, a favored 
colony, feeling no oppression, nursed by the mother country, 
cherished in every method, yet agreed with Massachusetts, then 
oppressed, to assert the great principle of community independ- 
ence, and to carry it to the extent of war — honoring her for her 
unvarying defense of the Constitution throughout her whole 
course — believing that she was true to her faith, and would re- 



BEPLY TO SENATOR DOUGLAS. 139 

deem all her pledges — feeling that a friendly hand might restrain, 
while, if left to herself, her pride might precipitate her on the trial 
of separation, I did desire to meet South Carolina in convention, 
though nobody but ourselves should be there to join her. 

But, to close the matter, this couveutioo, in its seventh resolu- 
tion, after stating all those questions on which it would resist, 
declared : 

" That, as the people of Mississippi, in the opinion of this con- 
vention, desire all further agitation of the slavery question to 
cease, and have acted upon and decided the foregoing questions, 
thereby making it the duty of this convention to pass no act in the 
perview and spirit of the law under which it is called, this conven- 
tion deems it unnecessary to refer to the people, for approval or 
disapproval, at the ballot-box, its action in the premises." 

So that when the Senator appealed to this as evidence of what 
the people of Mississippi had done, he was ignorant of the fact 
that the delegates of the people of Mississippi did not agree with 
him ; that their resolutions did not sustain the view which he took, 
and that the people of Mississippi never acted on them. If, then, 
there had been good taste in the intervention of this local ques- 
tion, there was certainly very bad judgment in hazarding his state- 
ments on a subject of which he was so little informed. 

The Senator here, as in relation to our friends at Charleston, 
takes kind care of us — supposes we do not know what we are 
about, but that he, with his superior discrimination, sees what must 
necessarily result from what we are doing; he says that, at Charles- 
ton, they — innocent people — did not intend to destroy the Govern- 
ment ; but he warns them that, if they do what they propose, they 
will destroy it ; and so he says we of Mississippi, not desiring to 
break up the Union, nevertheless pursued a course which would 
liave had that result if it had not been checked. Where docs he 
pet all this information? I have been in every State of the Union 
except two — three now, since Oregon has been admitted — but I 



140 LIFE OF JEFFERSON DAVIS. 

have never seen a man wlio had as much personal knowledge. It 
is equally surprising that his facts should be so contrary to the 
record. 

We believed then, as I believe now, that this Union, as a com- 
pact entered into between the States, was to be preserved by good 
faith, and by a close observance of the terms on which we were 
united. We believed then, as I believe now, that the party' which 
rested upon the basis of truth ; promulgated its opinions, and had 
them tested in the alembic of public opinion, adopted the only 
path of safety. I can not respect such a doctrine as that which 
says, " You may construe the Constitution your way, and I will 
construe it mine ; we will waive the merit of these two construc- 
tions, and harmonize together until the courts decide the question 
between us." A man is bound to have an opinion upon any political 
subject upon which he is called to act; it is skulking his respon- 
sibility for a citizen to say, "Let us express no opinion; I will 
agree that you may have yours, and I will have mine; we will co- 
operate politically together; we will beat the opposition, divide the 
spoils, and leave it to the court to decide the question between us." 

I do not believe that this is the path of safety ; I am sure it is 
not the way of honor. I believe it devolves on us, who are prin- 
cipally sufferers from the danger to which this policy has exposed 
us, to affirm the truth boldly, and let the people decide after the 
promulgation of our opinions. Our Government, resting as it does 
upon public opinion and popular consent, w^as not formed to deceive 
the people, nor does it regard the men in office as a governing class. 
We, the functionaries, .should derive our opinions from the people. 
To know what their opinion is, it is necessary' that we should pro- 
nounce, in unmistakable language, what we ourselves mean. 

My position is, that there is no portion of our country where 
the people are not sufficiently intelligent to discriminate between 
right and wrong, and no portion where the sense of justice does 
not predominate. I, therefore, have been always willing to unfurl 



REPr.Y TO SENATOR DOUGLAS. 141 

our flag to its innermost fold — to nail it to the mast, with all our 
jiiinciples plainly inscribed upon it. Believing that we ask nothing 
but what the Constitution was intended to confer — nothins: but that 
which, as equals, we are entitled to receive — I am willing that our 
case should be plainly stated to those who have to decide it, and 
await, for good or for evil, their verdict. 

For two days, the Senator spoke nominally upon the resolutions, 
and upon the territorial question ; but, like the witness in the 
French comedy, who, when called upon to testify, commenced 
before the creation, and was stopped by the judge, who told him to 
come down, for a beginning, to the deluge, he commenced so far 
back, and narrated so minutely, that he never got chronologically 
down to the point before us. 

What is the question on which the Democracy are divided? 
Arc we called upon to settle what every body said from 1847 down 
to this date? Have the Detuocracy divided on that? Have they 
divided on the resolutions of the States in 1840, or 1844, or 1848? 
Have the Democracy undertaken to review the position taken in 
1854, that there should be a latitude of construction upon a par- 
ticular point o£ constitutional law while they did await the de- 
cision of the Supreme Court? No, sir; the question is changed 
from before to after the event ; the call is on every man to come 
forward now, after the Supreme Court has given all it could render 
upon a political subject, and state that his creed is adherence to 
the rule thus expounded in accordance with previous agreement. 

The Senator tells us that he will abide by the decision of the 
Supreme Court ; but it was fairly to be inferred, from what he 
said, that, in the Dred Scott case, he held that they had only de- 
cided that a negro could not sue in a Federal Court. Was this 
the entertainment to which we were invited? Was the proclaimed 
boon of allowing the question to go to judicial decision, no more 
than that, one after another, each law might be tested, and that, 
one after another, each case, under every law, might be tried, and 



142 LIFE OF JEFFERSON DAVIS. 

that after centuries should roll away, we might hope for the period 
wheu, every case exhausted, the decisiou of our constitutional right 
and of the federal duty would be complete ? Or was it that we 
were to get rid of the controversy which had divided the counti-y 
for thirty years ; that we were to reach a conclusion beyond which 
we could see the region of peace; that trauquillity was to be ob- 
tained by getting a decision on a constitutional question which had 
been discussed until it was seen that, legislatively, it could not or 
would not be decided? If, then, the Supreme Court has judicially 
announced that Congress can not prohibit the introduction of slave 
property into a Territory, and that no one deriving authority from 
Congress can do so, and the Senator from Illinois holds that the 
inhabitants derive their power from the organic act of Congress, 
what restrains his acknowledgment of our right to go into the Ter- 
ritories, and his recognition of the case being closed by the opin- 
ion of the court? I can understand how one who has followed to 
its logical consequences the original doctrine of squatter sover- 
eignty might still stand out, and say this inherent right can not be 
taken away by judicial decision ; but is not one who claims to 
derive the power of the territorial legislation from a law of Con- 
gress, and who finds the opinion of the court conclusive as to 
Congress, and to all deriving their authority from it, estopped 
from any further argument? 

Much of what the Senator said about the condition of public 
affairs can only be regarded as the presentation of his own case, 
and repuires no notice from me. His witticism upon the honor- 
able Senator, the Chairman of the Committee on the Judiciary 
[Mr. Bayard], who is now absent, because of the size of the State 
which he represents, reminds one that it was mentioned as an evi- 
dence of the stupidity of a German, that he questioned the great- 
ness of Napoleon because he was born in the little island of Corsica. 
I know not what views the Senator entertained when he measured 
the capacity of the Senator from Delaware by the size of that 



REPLY TO SENATOR DOUGLAS. 143 

State, or the dignity of his action at Charleston by the uuinVjcr of 
his constituents. If there be Jiny political feature which stands 
more prominently out than another in the Union, it is the equality 
of the States. Our stars have no variant size ; they shine with no 
unequal brilliancy. A Senator from Delaware holds a position 
entitled to the same respect, as such, as the Senator from any 
other State of the Union. More than that, the character, the 
conduct, the information, the capacity of that Senator might claim 
respect, if he was not entitled to it from his position. 

Twice on this occasion, and more than the sarhe number of times 
heretofore, has the Senator referred to the great benefit derived 
from that provision which grants a trial in the local court, an 
appeal to the Supreme Court of the Territory, and an appeal from 
thence to the Supreme Court of the United States, on every ques- 
tion involving title to slaves. I wish to say that whatever merit 
attaches to that belongs to a Senator to whom the advocates of 
negro slavery have not often been in the habit of acknowledging 
their obligations — the Senator from New Hampshire [Mr. HaleJ, 
who introduced it in 1850 as an amendment to the New Mexico 
Bill. We adopted it as a fair proposition, equally acceptable upon 
one side and the other. On its adoption, no one voted against it. 
That proposition was incorporated in the Kansas Bill, but unless 
we acknowledge obligations to the Senator from New Hampshire, 
how shall they be accorded for that to the Senator from Illinois? 

I am asked whether the resolutions of the Senate can have the 
force of law. Of course not. The Senate, however, is an inde- 
pendent member of the Government, and from its organization 
should be peculiarly watchful of State rights. Before the meeting 
of the Charleston Convention, it was untruly stated that these 
resolutions were concocted to affect the action of the Charleston 
Convention. Now we are asked if they are to affect the Baltimore 
Convention. They were not designed for the one ; they are not 
prcssjcd in view of the other. They were introduced to obtain an 



144 LIFE OF JEFFERSON DAVIS. 

expression of the opinion of the Senate, a proceeding quite fre- 
quent in the history of this body. It was believed that they would 
have a beneficial effect, and that they were stated in terms which 
would show the public the error of supposing that there was a 
purpose on the part of the Democracy, or of the South, to enact 
what was called a slave code for the Territories of the United 
States. It was believed that the assertion of sound principles at 
this time would direct public opinion, and might be fruitful of 
such reuniting, harmonizing results as we all desire, and which 
the public need. Whether it is to have this effect or not; whether 
at last we are to be shorn of our national strength by personal or 
sectional strife, depends upon the conduct of those who have it in 
their power to control the result. The Democratic party, in its 
history, presents a high example of nationality ; its power and its 
usefulness has been its co-extension with the Union. The Demo- 
crats of the Northern States who vote for these resolutions, but 
affirm that which we have so often announced with pride, that 
there was a political opinion which pervaded the whole country ; 
there was a party capable to save the Union, because it be- 
longed to all the States. If the two Democratic Senators who 
alone have declared their opposition should so vote, to that extent 
the effect would be impaired, and they will stand in that isolation 
to which the Senator points as a consequence so dreadful to the 
Southern men at Charleston, 

[Hero Mr. Davis gave way for a motion to adjourn, and on the 17th 
resumed.] 

Mr. Davis. At the close of the session of yesterday, I was 
speaking of the hope entertained that the Democratic party would 
yet be united ; that the party which had so long wielded the des- 
tinies of the country, for its honor, for its glory, and its progress, 
was not about to be checked midway in its career — to be buried in 
a premature grave; but that it was to go on, with concentrated 



REPLY TO SENATOR DOUGLAS. 145 

energy, toward the great cuds for which it has striven since 1800, 
by a long pull, and a strong pull, and a pull altogether, to bring 
the ship of State into that quiet harbor where 

"Vessels safe, without their hawsers, ride." 

This was a hope, however, not founded on any supposition that we 
were to escape from the issues which are presented — a hope not 
based on the proposition that every man should have his own con- 
struction of our creed, and that we should unite together merely 
for success; but that the party, as heretofore, in each succeeding 
quadrennial convention, would add to the resolutions of the pre- 
ceding one such declarations as passing events indicated, and the 
exigencies of the country demanded. 

In the last four years a division has arisen in the Democratic 
party, upon the construction of one of the articles of its creed. 
It behooves us, in that state of the case, to decide what the true 
construction is ; for, if the party be not a union of men upon prin- 
ciple, the sooner it is dissolved the better; and if it be such a 
union, why shall not those principles be defined, so as to remove 
doubt or cavil, and be applied in every emergency to meet the 
demands of each succeeding case? Thus only can we avoid 
division in council and confusion in action. 

The Senator from Illinois, who preceded me, announced that he 
had performed a pleasing duty in defending the Democratic party. 
That party might well cry out. Save me from my defender. It 
was a defense of the "party by the arraignment of its prominent 
members. It was the preservation of the body by the destruction 
of its head — for the President of the United States is, for the time 
being, the head of the party that placed him in position ; and the 
head of the party thus in position can not be destroyed without 
the disintegration of the members and the destruction of the body 
itself. I suppose the Senator, however, was at his favorite amuse- 
ment of "shooting at the lump.' The "lump" heretofore has 
10 



146 LIFE OF JEFFEESON DAVIS. 

been those Democratic Senators who dissented from him : this time 
he involved Democrats all over the country. Not even the presiding 
officer, whose position seals his lips, could escape him. And here 
let me say that I found nothing in the extract read from that gen- 
tlemau's address, which, construed as was no doubt intended, does 
not meet my approval ; but if tried by the modern lexicon of the 
Senator, it might be rendered a contradiction to his avowed opin- 
ions, and by the same mode of expounding, non-intervention would 
be a sin of which the whole Democracy might be convicted, under 
the indictment of squatter sovereignty. The language quoted from 
the address of the Vice-President is to be construed as understood 
at the time, at the place, and by men such as the one who used it. 
With that force which usually enters into his addresses — with 
even more than his usual eloquence — the Senator referred to the 
scene which awaited him upon his return to Chicago, when, as 
represented, he met an infuriated mob, who assailed him for having 
maintained the measures of 1850 — th(?se compromises which, in the 
Northern section, it was urged had been passed in the interest of 
the South. But, pray, what one of those measures was it which 
excited the mob so described ? Only one, I believe, was put in 
issue at the North — the fugitive slave law ; that one he did not 
vote for. But it was the part of manliness to say that, though 
absent and not voting for it, he approved of it. Such, I believe, 
was his commendable course on that occasion. I give him, there- 
fore, all due credit for not escaping from a responsibility to which 
they might not have held him. Are we to give perpetual thanks 
to any one because he did not yield to so senseless a clamor, but 
conceded to us that small measure of constitutional right — because 
he has complied with a requirement so plain that my regret is that 
it ever required congressional intervention to enforce it? It be- 
longed to the honor of the States to execute that clause of the 
Constitution. They should have executed it without congressional 
intervention ; congressional action should only have been useful to 



REPLY TO SENATOR DOUGLAS. 147 

give tluit uniformity of proceeding which State action could not 
have secured. 

Concurring in the depicted evil of the destruction of the Dem- 
ocratic organization, it must be admitted that such consequence 
is the inevitable result of a radical difference of principle. The 
Senator laments the disease, but instead of healing, aggravates it. 
While pleading the evils of the disruption of the party, it is quite 
apparent that, in his mind, there is another still greater calamity; 
'for, through all his arraignment of others, all his self-laudation, 
all his complaints of persecution, like an air through its varia- 
tions, appears and re-appears the action of the Charleston Conven- 
tion. That seemed to be the beginning and the end of his solic- 
itude. The oft-told tale of his removal from the chairmanship of 
the Committee on Territories had to be renewed and connected with 
that convention, and even assumed as the basis on which his strength 
was founded in that convention. I think the Senator did himself 
injustice. I think his long career and distinguished labors, his ad- 
mitted capacity for good hereafter, constitute a better reason for the 
support which he received, than the fact that his associates in the 
Senate had not chosen to put him in a particular position in the 
organization of this body. It is enough that that fact did not 
divert support from him; and I am aware of none of his associates 
here who have forced it upon public attention with a view to affect 
him. 

He claims that an arraignment made against his Democracy has 
been answered by the action of a majority of the Convention at 
Charleston ; and then proceeds to inform the minority men that he 
would scorn to be the candidate of a party unless he received a 
majority of its votes. There was no use in making that declara- 
tion ; it requires not only a majority, but, under our ruling, a vote 
of two-thirds, for a nomination. It was unnecessary for any body 
to feel scorn toward that which he could not receive. Other un- 
fortunate wights might mourn the event ; it belonged to the Sen- 



148 LIFE OF JEFFEESON DAVIS. 

ator from Illinois to scorn it. The remark of Mr. Lowndes, which 
has been so often quoted, and which, beautiful in itself, has ac- 
quired additional value by time, that the Presidency was an ofl&ce 
neither to be sought nor declined, has no application, therefore, 
to the Senator, for, under certain contingencies, he says he would 
decline it. It does not devolve on me to decide whether he has 
sought it or not. 

But, sir, what is the danger which now besets the Democratic 
party? Is it, as has been asserted, the doctrine of intervention by 
Congress, and is that doctrine new? Is the idea that protection, 
by Congress, to all rights of person or property, wherever it has 
jursdiction, so dangerous that, in the language employed by the 
Senator, it would sweep the Democratic party from the face of the 
earth? For what was our Grovernmeut instituted? Why did the 
States confer upon the Federal Government the great functions 
which it possesses ? For protection — mainly for protection beyond 
the municipal power of the States. I shall have occasion, in the 
progress of my remarks, to cite some authority, and to trace this from 
a very early period. I will first, however, notice an assault which 
the Senator has thought proper to make upon certain States, one of 
which is, in part, represented by myself. He says they are seced- 
ers. bolters, because they withdrew from a party convention when 
it failed to announce their principles. There can be no tie to bind 
me to a party beyond my will. I will admit no bond that holds 
me to a party a day longer than I agree to its principles. When 
men meet together to confer, and ascertain whether or not they do 
agree, and find that they diifer — radically, essentially, irreconcil- 
ably differ — what belongs to an honorable position except to part? 
They can not consistently act together any longer. It devolves 
upon them frankly to announce the difference, and each to pursue 
his separate course. 

The letter of Mr. Yancey — acknowledged to be a private letter, 
an unguarded letter, but which, somehow or other, got into the 



REPLY TO SENATOR DOUGLAS. 149 

press — was read to sustain this general accusation against what arc 
called the Cotton States. I do not pretend to judge how far the 
Senator has the right here to read a private letter, which, without 
the authority of the writer, has gone into the public press. It is 
one of those questions which every man's sense of propriety must, 
in his own case, decide. Whether or not the use of that letter was 
justifiable, how is it to be assumed that the Southern States are 
bound by any opinion there enunciated ? How to be asserted that 
we, the residents in those States, have pinned our faith to the 
sleeve of any man, and that we will follow his behest, no matter 
whither he may go ? But was this the only source of information, 
or was the impression otherwise sustained ? Did Mr. Yancey, in 
his speech delivered at Charleston, justify the conclusions which 
the Senator draws from this letter? Did he admit them to be 
correct? There he might have found the latest evidence, and the 
best authority. Speaking to that point, Mr. Yancey said: 

"It has been charged, in order to demoralize whatever influence 
■we might be entitled to, either fi-om our personal or political char- 
acteristics, or as representatives of the State of Alabama, that we 
are disruptionists, disunionists per se; that we desire to break up 
the party in the State of Alabama — to break up the party of the 
Union, and to dissolve the Union itself. Each and all of these 
allegations, come from what quarter they may, I pronounce to be 
false. There is no disunionist, that I know of, in the delegation 
from the State of Alabama. There is no disruptionist that I know 
of; and if there are factionists in our delegation, they could not 
have got in there, with the knowledge upon the part of our State 
Convention that they were of so unenviable a character. Wc come 
here with two great purposes : first, to save the constitutional 
rights of the South, if it lay in our power to do so. We desire to 
save the South by the best means that present themselves to us ; 
and the State of Alabama believes that the best means now in ex- 
istence is the organization of the Democratic party, if we shall be 
able to persuade it to adopt the constitutional basis upon which 
we think the South alone can be saved." 



150 LIFE OF JEFFEESON DAVIS. 

He further says: 

" We have come here, then, with the twofold purpose of saving 
the country and saving the Democracy ; and if the Democracy will 
not lend itself to that high, holy, and elevated purpose; if it can 
not elevate itself above the mere question of how perfect shall be 
its mere personal organization, and how wide-spread shall be its 
mere voting success, then we say to you, gentlemen, mournfully 
and regretfully, that, in the opinion of the State of Alabama, and, 
I believe, of the whole South, you have failed in your mission, and 
it will be our duty to go forth, and make an appeal to the loyalty 
of the country to stand by that Constitution which party organiza- 
tions have deliberately rejected." [Applause.] 

Mr. Yancey answers for himself. It was needless to go back to 
old letters. Here were his remarks delivered before the conven- 
tion, speaking to the point in issue, and answering both as to his 
purposes and as to the motives of those with whom he conferred 
and acted. 

The Senator nest cited the resolutions of the State of Alabama ; 
and here he seemed to rest the main point in his argument. The 
Senator said that Alabama, in 185G, had demanded of the Demo- 
cratic convention, non-intervention, apd that, in 1860, she had 
retired from the convention because it insisted upon non-interven- 
tion. He read one of the resolutions of the Alabama Convention 
of 1856 ; but the one which bore upon the point was not read. 
The one which was conclusive as to the position of Alabama then, 
and its relation to her position now, was exactly the one that was 
omitted — I read from the resolutions of this year — was as follows : 

'■'■Resolved, further, That we re-affirm so much of the first resolu- 
tion of the platform adopted in the convention by the Democracy 
of this State, on the 8th of January, 1856, as relates to the sub- 
ject of slavery, to-wit." 

It then goes on to quote from that resolution of 1856, as follows: 
" The unqualified right of the people of the slaveholding States 



EEPLY TO SENATOIl DOUGLAS. 151 

to the protection of their property iu the States, in the Territo- 
ries, and in the wilderness, iu which territorial governments are 
as yet unorganized." 

That was the resolution of 185G ; and like it was one of Febru- 
ary, 1848 : 

'■That it is the duty of the General Government by all proper 
legislation, to secure an entry into those Territories to all the 
citizens of the United States, together with their property, of every 
description; and that the same shall be protected by the United 
States, while the Territories are under its authority." 

So stands the record of that State which is now held responsible 
for retiring, and is alleged to have withdrawn because she received 
now what, in former times, she had demanded as the full measure 
of her rights. Did she receive it? The argument could only be 
made by concealing the fact that her resolutions of 1848 and 1856 
asserted the right to protection, and claimed it from the General 
Government. "What, then, is the necessary inference? That, in 
the Cincinnati platform, they believed they obtained that which 
they asserted, or that which necessarily involved it. So much for 
the point of faith; so much for the poiat of consistency in the 
assertion of right. But if it were otherwise ; if they had neglected 
to assert a right; would that destroy it? If they had failed at 
some time to claim this protection, are they to be estopped, in all 
time to come, from claiming it? Constitutional right is eternal — 
not to be sacrificed by any body of men. A single man may re- 
vive it at any period of the existence of the Constitution. So the 
argument would be worthless, if the facts were as stated. That 
they are not so stated, is shown by the record. 

Here allow me to say, in all sincerity, that I dislike thus to 
speak about conventions ; it does not belong to the duties of the 
Senate; we did not assemble here to make a President, except in 
the single contingency of a failure by the people and by the House 



152 LIFE OF JEFFERSON DAVIS. 

of Representatives to elect. When that contingency arrives, the 
question will be before us. I am sorry that it should have been 
prematurely introduced. But since the action of the recent con- 
vention at Charleston is presented as the basis of argument, it may 
be as well to refer to it, and see what it is. The majority report, 
presented by seventeen States of the Union, and those the States 
most reliable to give Democratic votes — the States counted so cer- 
tain to give Democratic votes that they have been regarded as a 
fixed basis, a nucleus to which others were to be attracted — these 
seventeen States reported to the convention a series of resolutions, 
one of which asserted the right to protection. A minority of 
States reported another series, excluding the avowal of the right — 
not exactly denying it, but not avowing it — and a second minor- 
ity report was submitted, being the Cincinnati platform, pure and 
simple. It is true that a majority of delegates adopted the minor- 
ity report, but not a majority of States, nor does it appear, by an 
analysis of the votes, and the best evidence I have been able to 
obtain, that it was by a majority of delegates, if each had been left 
to his own choice ; but that, by one of those ingenious arrange- 
ments — one of those incidents which, among jurists, is described 
as the ftivor the vigilant receives from the law — it so happened 
that, in certain States, the delegates were instructed to vote as a 
unit; in other States they were not; so that, wherever they were 
instructed to vote as a unit, the vote must so be cast, and wherever 
they were not, they might disintegrate. Thus minorities were 
bound in one instance, and released in another ; and, by a compari- 
son made by those who had an opportunity to know, it appears 
that the minority report could not have got a majority of the del- 
egates, if each delegate had been permitted to east his own vote 
in the Convention. Neither could it have obtained, as appears by 
the action of the committee, in a majority of the States, if they 
had been spoken as such. So that this vaunt as to the effect of 
the adoption of the platform by a majority, seems to have very 



EEPI.Y TO .SK>;Aroll DOUGLAS. 153 

little of substance in it. Again, I find that, after this adoption of 
a platform, a delegate from Tennessee oifercd a resolution : 

"That all the citizens of the United States have an equal right 
to settle, with their property, in the Territories of the United 
States ; and that, under the decision of the Supreme Court of the 
United States, which we recognize as a correct exposition of the 
Constitution of the United States, neither their rights of person 
or property can be destroyed or impaired by congressional or ter- 
ritorial legislation." 

It does not appear that a vote was taken on it. There is a cur- 
rent belief that it would have been adopted. If it had been, it 
would have been an acknowledgment by the Democracy, in con- 
vention assembled, that the question had been settled by the de- 
cisions of the Supreme Court. But in the progress of the con- 
vention, when they came to balloting, it appears, by an analysis of 
the vote for candidates, that the Senator from Illinois received 
from seventeen undoubted Democratic States of the Union, casting 
one hundred and twenty-seven electoral votes, but eleven votes. 
It is not such a great triumph, then, in the Democratic view, as is 
claimed. It does not suffice to add up the number of votes where 
they do not avail. It is not fair to bring the votes of Vermont, 
where I believe nobody expects we shall be successful, and count 
them for a particular candidate. The electoral votes — and these 
alone, tell upon the result; and it appears that in those States 
which have been counted certain to cast their electoral votes for 
the candidate who might have been nominated at that convention, 
the Senator received but eleven. This is but meagre claim to 
bind us to his car as the successful champion of the majority. 
This is but small basis for the boast that his hopes were gratified, 
that he would not receive the nomination unless sustained by a 
majority of the party, and that his opinions had received the in- 
dorsement of the Democracy. 

My devotion to the party is life-long. If the assertion be al- 



154 LIFE OF JEFFERSON DAVIS. 

lowable, it may be said that I inherited my political principles. 
I derive them from a revolutionary father — one of the earnest 
friends of Mr. Jefferson ; who, after the revolution which achieved 
our independence, bore his full part in the civil revolution of 
1800, which emancipated us from federal usurpation and consoli- 
dation. I therefore have all that devotion to party which belongs 
to habitual reverence and confidence. But, sir, that devotion to 
party rests on the assumption that it is to maintain sound prin- 
ciples ; that it is to strive hereafter, as heretofore, to carry out 
the great cardinal creed in which the Democratic party was 
founded. When the resolutions of 1798 and 1799 are discarded; 
when we fly from the extreme of monarchy to land in the dan- 
ger to republics, anarchy, and the Democratic party says its arm 
is paralyzed — can not be raised to maintain constitutional rights, 
my devotion to its organization is at an end. It fails thencefor- 
ward in the purposes for which it was established ; and if there 
be a constitutional party in the land which, in the language of 
Mr. Jefferson, would find in the vigor of the Federal Government 
the best hope for our liberty and security, to that party I should 
attach myself whenever that sad contingency arose. 

The resolutions of 1798 and 1799, though directed against 
usurpation, were equally directed against the dangers of anarchy. 
Their principles are alike applicable to both. Their cardinal 
creed was a Federal Government, according to the grants con- 
ferred upon it, and these righteously administered. It is not fair 
to the men who taught us the lessons of Democracy that they 
should be held responsible for a theoi-y which leaves the Federal 
Government, as one who has abdicated all authority, to stand at 
the mercy of local usurpations. Least of all does their teaching 
maintain that this Government has no power over the Territories; 
that this Government has no obligation to protect the rights of per- 
son and property in the Territories ; for, among the first acts under the 
Constitution, was one which both asserted and exercised the power. 



REPLY TO SENATOR DOUGLAS. 155 

After the adoptiou of the Constitution, in 1789, an act was 
passed, to which reiorence is frequently made as heing a confirm- 
ation of the ordinance of 1787; and this has been repeated so 
often that it has received general belief There was a constitu- 
tional provision which required all obligations and engagements 
under the confederation to hold good under the Constitution. If 
there was an obligation or an engagement growing out of the or- 
dinance of 1787, out of the deed of cession by Virginia, it was 
transmitted to the Government established under the Constitution; 
but that Congress under the Constitution gave it no vitality — that 
they added no force to it, is apparent from the fact which is so 
often relied upon as authority. It was in view of this fact, in full 
remembrance of this and of other f:\cts connected with it, that 
Mr. Madison said, in relation to passing regulations for the Ter- 
ritories, that " Congress did not regard the interdiction of slavery 
among the needful regulations contemplated by the Constitution, 
since, in none of the territorial governments created by them, was 
such an interdict found." I am aware that Justice McLean has 
viewed this as an historical error of Mr. Madison. I shall not 
assume to decide between such high authorities. The act is as 
follows : 

"An Act to provide for the government of the Territory north-west of the Ohio 

River. 

""Whereas, In order that the ordinance of the United States in 
Congress assembled, for the govcnuuont of the territory north-west 
of the river Ohio, may continue to have full eflfect, it is requisite 
that certain provisions should be made so as to adapt the same 
to the present Constitution of the United States. 

"Section 1. Be it enacted hy the Senate and House of Rejyresen- 
tatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That, 
in all cases in which, by the said ordinance, any information is to 
be given, or communication made, by the governor of the said 
Territory to the United States in Congress assembled, or to any 
of their officers, it shall be the duty of the said governor to give 



156 LIFE OF JEFFEPtSOX DAVIS. 

sueli information, and to make such communication, to the Presi- 
dent of the United States; and the President shall nominate, and, 
by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, shall appoint 
all officers which, by the said ordinance, were to have been ap- 
pointed by the United States in Congress assembled ; and all 
officers so appointed shall be commissioned by him; and in all 
cases where the United States in Congress assembled might, by 
the said ordinance, make any commission, or remove from any 
office, the President is hereby declared to have the same powers 
to revocation and removal. 

" Sec. 2. And be it further enacted, That in the case of the death, 
removal, resignation, or necessary absence of the governor of the 
said Territory, the secretary thereof shall be, and he is hereby 
authorized and required to execute all the powers and perform all 
the duties of the governor during the vacancy occasioned by the 
removal, resignation, or necessary absence of the said governor. 

"Approved August 7, 1789." 

All that is to be found in this act which ftivors the supposition 
and frequent assertion that, under the Constitution, the ordinance 
of 1787 was ratified and confirmed is to be found in the preamble, 
and that preamble so vaguely alludes to it that the idea is refuted 
by reference to an act which followed soon afterwards — the act of 
1793 — from which I will read a single section : 

" Sec. 3. And he it further enacted, That when a person held 
to labor in any of the United States, or in either of the Territo- 
ries on the north-west or south of the river Ohio, under the laws 
thereof, shall escape into any other of the said States or Territo- 
ries, the person to whom such service or labor may be due, his 
agent, or attorney, is hereby empowered to seize or arrest such 
fugitive from labor," etc. 

Is it not apparent that, when the Congress legislated in 1793, 
they recognized the existence of slavery and protected that kind 
of property in the territory north-west of the river Ohio, and is it 



REPLY TO SENATOR DOUGLAS. 157 

not conclusive that they did not intend, by the act of 1789 to 
confirm, ratify, and give effect to the ordinance of 1787, which 
would have excluded it? 

This doctrine of protection, then, is not new. It goes back to 
the foundation of the Government. It is traceable down throuo-h 
all the early controversies; and they arose at least as early as 1790. 
It is found in the messages of Mr. Jefferson and Mr. Madison, and 
in the legislation of Congress; and also in the messages of the 
elder Adams. There was not one of the first four Presidents of 
the United States who did not recognize this obligation of protec- 
tion, who did not assert this power on the part of the Federal 
Government ; and not one of them ever attempted to pervert it to 
a power to destroy. If division in the Democratic party is to arise 
now, because of this doctrine, it is not from the change by those 
who assert it, but of those who deny it. It is not from the intro- 
duction of a new feature iu the theory of our Government, but 
from the denial of that which was recognized in its very begin- 
ning. 

As I understood the main argument of the Senator, it was based 
upon the general postulate that the Democratic Convention of 1848 
recognized a new doctrine, a doctrine which inhibited the General 
Government from interfering in any way, either for the protection 
of property or otherwise, with the local affairs of a Territory ; he 
held the party responsible for all the opinions entertained by the 
candidate in 1848, because the party had nominated him, and he 
quoted the record to show what States, by voting for him, had 
committed themselves to the doctrine of the "Nicholson letter."' 
He even quoted South Carolina, represented by that man who be- 
came famous for a single act, and, as South Carolinians said, with- 
out authority at home to sustain it. But this was cited as pledg- 
ing the faith of South Carolina to the doctrine of the "Nicholson 
letter;" and, worse than all, the Senator did this, though he knew 
that the doctrine of the "Nicholson letter" was the subject of con- 



158 LIFE OF JEFFERSON DAVIS. 

troversy for years subsequently; that, what was the true construc- 
tion of that letter, entered into the canvass in the Southern States ; 
that the construction which Mr. Cass himself placed upon it at a 
subsequent period was there denied ; and the Senator might have 
remembered, if he had chosen to recollect so unimportant a thing, 
that I once had to explain to him, ten years ago, the fact that I 
repudiated the doctrine of that letter at the time it was published, 
and that the Democracy of Mississippi had well-nigh crucified me 
for the construction which I placed upon it ; there were men mean 
enough to suspect that the construction I gave to the Nicholson 
letter was prompted by the confidence and affection I felt for Gen- 
eral Taylor. At a subsequent period, however, Mr. Cass thor- 
oughly reviewed it. He uttered, for him, very harsh language 
against all who had doubted the true construction of his letter, 
and he construed it just as I had done during the canvass of 
1848. It remains only to add that I supported Mr. Cass, not be- 
cause of the doctrine of the Nicholson letter, but in despite of it; 
because I believed a Democratic President, with a Democratic cab- 
inet and Democratic counselors in the two houses of Congress, and 
he as honest a man as I believed Mr. Cass to be, would be a safer 
reliance than his opponent, who personally possessed my confi- 
dence as much as any man living, but who was of and must draw 
his advisers from a party, the tenets of which I believed to be 
opposed to the interests of the country as they were to all my 
political convictions. 

I little thought at that time that my advocacy of Mr. Cass, upon 
such grounds as these, or his support by the State of which I am 
a citizen, would at any future day be quoted as an indorsement of 
the opinions contained in the Nicholson letter, as those opinions 
were afterwards defined. But it is not only upon this letter, but 
equally upon the resolutions of the convention as constructive of 
that letter, that he rested his argument. I will here say to the 
Senator that if, at any time, I do him the least injustice, speaking 



REPLY TO SENATOR DOUGLAS. 159 

as I tlo from such uotes as I could take while he progressed, I 
will thank him to correct me. 

But this letter entered into the canvass; there was a doubt about 
its construction ; there were men who asserted that they had posi- 
tive authority for saying that it meant that the people of a Terri- 
tory could only exclude slavery when the Territory should form a 
constitution and be admitted as a State. This doubt continued to 
hang over the construction, and it was that doubt alone which 
secured Mr. Cass the vote of Mississippi. If the true construction 
had been certainly known he would have had no chauce to get it. 
Our majority went down from thousands to hundreds, as it was. 
In Alabama the decrease was greater. It was not that the doc- 
trine was countenanced, but the doubt as to the true meaning 
of the letter, and the constantly reiterated assertion that it only 
meant the Territories when they should be admitted as States, 
enabled him to carry those States. 

But if I mistook the Senator there, I think probably I did 
not on another point : that he claimed the support of certain 
Southern men for Mr. Richardson as Speaker of the House to 
be by them an acknowledgment of the doctrine of squatter sov- 
ereignty. 

I suppose those Southern men who voted for Mr. Richardson 
voted for him as I did for Mr. Cass, in despite of his opinions on 
that question, because they preferred Mr. Richardson to Mr. 
Banks, even with squatter sovereignty. They considered that the 
latter was carrying an amount of heresies which greatly exceeded 
the value of squatter sovereignty. It was a choice of evils — not 
an indorsement of his opinions. Neither did they this year in- 
dorse the opinions on that point of Mr. McClernand when they 
voted for him. According to the Senator's argument I could show 
hira that Illinois was committed to the doctrine of federal protec- 
tion to property in the Territories and the remedy of secession as 
a State right; committed irrevocably, unmistakably, with no right 



160 LIFE OF JEFFERSON DAVIS. 

to plead any ignorance of the political creed of the individual, or 
the meaning of his words. 

In 1852 — I refer to it with pride — Illinois did me the honor to 
vote consistently for me for the Vice-Presidency, up to the time 
of adjournment; though in 1850, and in 1851, I had done all 
these acts which have been spoken of, and the Senator has admit- 
ted my consistency, in opinions which were avowed with at least 
such perspicuity as left nobody in doubt as to my opinion. Did 
Illinois then adopt my theory of protection in the Territories, or 
of the right of State secession ? No, sir. I hold them to no such 
consequences. Some of the old inhabitants of Illinois may have 
remembered me when their northern frontier was a wilderness, 
when they and I had kind relations in the face of hostile Indians. 
Some of them may have remembered me, and, I believe, kindly, as 
associated with them, at a later period, on the fields of Mexico. 
The Senator himself, I know, remembered kindly his association 
with me in the halls of Congress. It was these bonds which gave 
me the confidence of the State of Illinois. I never misconstrued 
it. I never pretended to put them in the attitude of adopting all 
my opinions. Never required it, never desired it, save as in so far 
as wishing all men would agree with me, confidently believing my 
position to be true. At a later period, and when these questions 
were more important in the public mind, when public attention 
has been more directed to them, when public opinion has been 
more matured, at the very time when the Senator claims that his 
doctrine culminated, the State of Illinois voted for a gentleman 
for Vice-President at Cincinnati who held the same opinions with 
myself, or, if there was a difference, held them to a greater ex- 
treme — I mean General Quitman. 

Mr. Douglas. We made no test on any one. 

Mr. Davis. Then, how did the South become responsible for 
the doctrine of General Cass, by consenting to his nomination in 
1848, and supporting his election ? But at a later period, down 



REPLY TO SENATOR DOUGLAS. IGl 

to the present session, what is the position in wliich the Senator 
places his friends — those sterling Democrats, uncompromising Anti- 
Know-Nothings; men who give no quarter to the American party, 
and yet who voted this year for Mr. Smith, of North Carolina, to 
be Speaker of the House of llepresentatives. Is the Senator an- 
swered? Does he not see that tliere is no justice in assuming a 
vote for an individual to be the entire adoption of his opinions? 

He cited, in this connection, a resolution of 1848, as having been 
framed to cover the doctrines of the Nicholson letter ; and he 
claimed thus to have shown that the convention not only under- 
stood it, but adopted it, and made it the party creed, and that we 
were bound to it from that period forward. He even had that reso- 
lution of 1848 read, in order that there should be, at no future 
time, any question as to the principle which the party then avowed ; 
that it should be fixed as a starting point in all the future progress 
of Democracy. I was surprised at the importance the Senator at- 
tached to that resolution of 1848, because it was not new; it was 
not framed to ipeet the opinions of the Nicholson letter, but came 
down from a period as remote as 1840; was copied into the plat- 
form of 1844, and again into that of 1848, being the expression 
which the condition of the country in 1840 had induced — a dec- 
laration of opinion growing out of the agitation in the two houses 
of Congress at that day, and the fearful strides which antislavery 
•was making, and which Mr. Calhoun had labored to check by the 
declaration of constitutional truths, as set forth in his Senate reso- 
lutions of 1837-8. 

That there may be no mistake on this point, and particularly as 
the Senator attached special importance to it, I will turn to the 
platform of 1840, and read from it, so that it shall be found to be — 

Mr. Douglas. It is conceded. 

Mr. Davis. The Senator concedes the ftict, that the resolution 
of 1848 was a copy of that of 1840, and with the concession falls 
his argument. The platforms of 1840 and 1844 were rc-affirmed 
11 



162 LIFE OF JEFFEESON DAVIS. 

in 1848; and, consequently, the resolution of '48 being identical 
with that of '40, was not a construction of the letter written in 
1847. 

True to its instincts and to its practices, the Democratic party, 
from time to time, continued to add to their "platform" whatever 
was needful for action by the Government in the condition of the 
country. Thus, in 1844, they re-asserted the platform of 1840; 
and they added thereto, because of a question then pending, that — 

" The re-annexation of Texas, at the earliest practicable period, 
is a great American measure, which the convention recommend to 
the cordial support of the Democracy of the Union." 

In 1848 they re-adopted the resolutions of 1844; and were not 
a little laughed at for keeping up the question of Texas after it 
had been annexed. In 1852 a new question had arisen; the meas- 
ures of 1850 had presented, with great force to the public mind, 
the necessity for some expression of opinion upon the disturbing 
questions which the measures of 1850 had been designed to quiet. 
Therefore, in 1852, the party, true to its obligation to announce its 
principles, and to meet issues as they arise, said : 

" Resolved, That the foregoing proposition (referring to the res- 
olution of 1848) covers, and was intended to embrace, the whole 
subject of slavery agitation in Congress ; and, therefore, the Dem- 
ocratic party in the Union, standing on this national platform, will 
abide by and adhere to a faithful execution of the act known as 
the compromise measure, settled by the last Congress, the act for 
reclaiming fugitives from labor included ; which act, being de- 
signed to carry out an express provision of the Constitution, can 
not, with fidelity thereto, be repealed, or so changed as to destroy 
or impair its efficacy.' 

" Resolved, That the Democratic party will restrain all attempts 
at renewing, in Congress or out of it, the agitation of the slave 
question, under whatever shape or color the attempt may be made.' 

This was the additign made in 1852, and it was made because 



KEPLY TO SENATOR DOUGLAS. 163 

of the agitation which then pr.evailed through the country against 
the fugitive slave act, and it was because the fugitive slave act, 
and that alone, was assailed, that the Democratic convention met 
the issue on that measure specifically, and for the same reason it 
received the approbation of the Southern States. Had this been 
considered as the indorsement of the slave trade bill for the Dis- 
trict of Columbia, it would not have received their approval. The 
agitation was in relation to recovering fugitive slaves, and the 
Democratic party boldly and truly met the living issue, and de- 
clared its position upon it. 

In 1856 other questions had arisen. It was necessary to meet 
them. The convention did meet them, and met them in a manner 
which was satisfactory, because it was believed to be full. I will 
not weary the Senate by reading the resolutions of 1856; they are 
familiar to every body. I only quote a portion of them : 

"The American Democracy recognize and adopt the principles 
contained in the organic laws establishing the Territories of Kan- 
sas and Nebraska as embodying the only sound and safe solution 
of the 'slavery question' upon which the great national idea of the 
people of this whole country can repose in its determined conserv- 
atism of the Union — non-interference by Congress with slavery in 
State and Territory, or in the District of Columbia. 

" That, by the uniform application of this Democratic principle 
to the organization of Territories, and to the admission of new 
States, with or without domestic slavery, as they may elect, the 
equal rights of all States will be preserved intact, the original 
compacts of the Constitution maintained inviolate, and the perpe- 
tuity and expansion of this Union insured to its utmost capacity 
of embracing, in peace and harmony, every future American State 
that may be constituted or annexed with a republican form of gov- 
ernment." 

Pray, what can this mean? Squatter sovereignty? Incapacity 
of the Federal Government to enact any law for the protection of 
slave property anywhere? Could that be in the face of a struggle 



164 LIFE OF JEFFERSON DAVIS. 

that we were constantly carrying on against the opponents of the 
f'uo-itive slave law? Could that be, in the face of the fact that a 
majority had trodden down our constitutional rights in the Dis- 
trict of Columbia, by legislating in relation to that particular char- 
acter of property, and that they had failed to redeem a promise 
they had sacredly made to pass a law for the protection of slave 
property, so as to punish any one who should seduce, or entice, or 
abduct it from an owner in this District ? 

With all these things fresh in mind, what did they mean? They 
meant that Congress should not decide the question, whether that 
institution should exist within a Territory or not. They did not 
mean to withdraw from the inhabitants of the District of Columbia 
that protection to which they were entitled, and which is almost 
annually given by legislation ; and yet States and Territories and 
the District of Columbia are all grouped together, as the points 
upon which this idea rests, and to which it is directed. It meant 
that Congress was not to legislate to interfere with the rights of 
property anywhere; not to attempt to decide what should be the 
institutions maintained anywhere ; but surely not to disclaim the 
right to protect property, whether on sea or on land, wherever the 
Federal Government had jurisdiction and power. But some stress 
has been laid upon the resolution, which says that this principle 
should be applied to 

"The organization of the Territories, and to the admission of 
new States, with or without domestic slavery, as they may elect." 

What does "may elect" mean? Does it refer to organization 
of the Territory? "Who may elect? Congress organizes the Ter- 
ritories. Did it mean that the Territories were to elect? It does 
not say so. What does it say? 

"That by the uniform application of this Democratic principle 
to the organization of Territories, and to the admission of new 
States, with or without domestic slavery, as they may elect." 



REPLY TO SENATOR DOUGLAS. 166 

And here it met a question which had disturbed the peace of 
the country, and well-nigh destroyed the Union — the right of a 
State holding slaves to bo admitted into the Union. It was de- 
clared here that the State so admitted should elect whether it 
would or would not have slaves. There is nothing in that which 
logically applies to the organization of a Territory. But if this be 
in doubt, let us come to the last resolution, which says : 

" We recognize the right of the people of all the Territories, in- 
cluding Kansas and Nebraska, acting through the legally and fairly- 
expressed will of a majority of actual residents — " 

Does it stop there? No — 

" and whenever the number of their inhabitants justifies it, to 
form a constitution, with or without domestic slavery, and be ad- 
mitted into the Union upon terms of perfect equality with the 
other States." 

If there had been any doubt before as to what " may elect" re- 
ferred to, this resolution certainly removed it. It is clear they 
meant, that when a Territory had a sufficient number of inhabit- 
ants, and came to form a constitution, then it might decide the 
question as it pleased. From that doctrine, I know no Democrat 
who now dissents. 

I have thus, because of the assertion that this was a new idea 
attempted to be interjected into the Democratic creed, gone over 
some portion of its history. Important by its connection with the 
existing agitation, and last in the series, is an act with the usher- 
ing in of which the Senator is more familiar than myself, and on 
which he made remarks, to which, it is probable, some of those 
who acted with him, will reply. I wish merely to say, in relation 
to the Kansas-Nebraska act, that there are expressions in it which 
seem to me not of doubtful meaning, such as, " in all cases in- 
volving title to slaves, or involving the question of personal free- 
dom," there should be a trial before the courts, and \>ithout refer- 



166 LIFE OF JEFFERSON DAVIS. 

ence to the amount involved, an appeal to the Supreme Court of 
the Territory, and from thence to the Supreme Court of the United 
States. If there was no right of property there ; if we had no 
right to recognize it there; if some sovereign was to determine 
whether it existed or not, why did we say that the Supreme Court 
of the United States, in the last resort, should decide the question? 
If it was an admitted thing, by that bill, that the Territorial Leg- 
islature should decide it, why did we provide for taking the case 
to the Supreme Court? If it had been believed then, as it is as- 
serted now, that a Territory possessed all the power of a State; 
that the inhabitants of a Territory could meet in convention and 
decide the question as the people of a State might do, there wag 
nothing to be carried to the Supreme Court. You can not appeal 
from the decision of a constitutional convention of a State to the 
Supreme Court of the United States, to decide whether slave prop- 
erty shall be prohibited or admitted within the limits of a State ; 
and if they rest on the same footing, what is the meaning of that 
clause of the bill ? 

But this organic law further provides, just as the resolution of 
the convention had done, that when a legal majority of the resi- 
dents of either Territory formed a constitution, then, at their will, 
they might recognize or exclude slavery, and come into the Union 
as co-equal States. This fixes the period, defines the time at 
which the territorial inhabitants may perform this act, and clearly 
forbids the idea that it was intended, by those who enacted the law, 
to acknowledge that power to be existent in the inhabitants of a 
Territory during their territorial condition. If I am mistaken in 
this ; if there was a contemporaneous construction of it difi"ering 
from this, the Senators who sit around me and who were then mem- 
bers of the body, will not fail to remember it. 

The Senator asserts that, in relation to this point, those who 
acted with him have changed, and claims for himself to have been 
consistent. If this be so, it proves nothing as to the present, and 



EEPLY TO SENATOR DOUGLAS. 167 

only individual opinions as to the past. I do not regard consis- 
tency as a Very high virtue ; neither, it appears, does he ; for lie 
told us that if it could be shown to him that he was in error on 
any point, he would change his opinion. How could that be ? 
Who would undertake to show the Senator that he was in error? 
Who would undertake to measure the altitude of the Colossus who 
bestrides the world, and announces for, and of, and by himself, 
"We, the Democracy," as though, in his person, all that remained 
of the party was now concentrated 1 Other men are permitted to 
change, because other men may be mistaken ; and if they are 
honest, when convicted of their error, they must change, but how 
can one expect to convince the Senator, who, where all is change, 
stands changeless still ? 

In the course of his reply to me — if indeed it may be called 
such ; it seemed to be rather a review of every thing except what 
I had said — he set me the bad example of going into the canvass 
in my own State. It is the first, I trust it will be the last time, I 
shall follow his example ; and now only to the extent of the occa- 
sion, where criticism was invited by unusual publicity. In the 
canvass which the Senator had with his opponent, Mr. Lincoln, 
and the debates of which have been published in a book, we find 
much which, if it be consistent with his course as I had known it, 
only proves to me how little able I was to understand his meaning 
in former times. 

The Kansas-Nebraska Bill having agreed the right for which I 
contend to be the subject of judicial decision; it having specially 
provided the mode and facilitated the process by which that right 
should be brought to the courts and finally decided; not allowiug 
any check to be interposed because of amount, that bill haviug 
continued the provision which had been introduced into the New 
Mexico Bill, how are we to understand the Senator's declarations, 
that, let the Supreme Court decide as they may, the inhabitants of 
a Territory may lawfully admit or exclude slavery as they please? 



168 LIFE OF JEFFEESOX DAVIS. 

"What a liollow promise was given to us in the provision referring 
this vexed question to judicial decision, in order that we might 
roach a point on which we might peacefully rest, if the inhabitants 
of the Territories for which Congress had legislated could still de- 
cide the question and set aside any decision of the Supreme Court, 
and do this lawfully. I ask, was it not to give us a stone, when 
he promised us bread ; to incorporate a provision in the organic 
act securing the right of appeal to the courts, if, as now stated, 
those courts were known to be powerless to grant a remedy? 

Here there is a very broad distinction to be drawn between the 
power of the inhabitants of a Territory, or of any local community, 
lawfully to do a thing, and forcibly to do it. If the Senator had 
said, that whatever might be the decision of the Supreme Court, 
whatever might be the laws of Pongress, whatever might be the 
laws of the Territories, in the face of an infuriated mob, such as 
he described on another occasion, it would be impossible for a man 
to hold a slave against their will, he would but have avowed the 
truism that in our country the law waits upon public opinion. But 
he says that they can do it lawfully. If his position had been 
such as I have just stated, it would have struck me as the opinion 
I had always supposed him to entertain. More than that, it would 
have struck me as the opinion which no one could gainsay ; which, 
at any time, I would have been ready to admit. Nothing is more 
clear than that no law could prevail in our country, where force, as 
a governmental mean, is almost unknown, against a pervading sen- 
timent in the community. Every body admits that; and it was in 
that view of the case that this question has been so often declared 
to be a mere abstraction. It is an abstraction so far as any one 
would expect in security to hold against the fixed purpose and all- 
pervading will of the community, whether territorial or other, a 
species of property, ambulatory, liable, because it has mind enough 
to go, to be enticed away whenever freed from physical restraint, 
and which would be nearly valueless if so restrained. It may be 



REPLY TO SENATOR DOUGLAS. 169 

an abstractioa us a practical question of pecuniary advantage, but 
it is not the less dear to those who assert the constitutional right. 
It would constitute a very good reason why no one should ever say 
there was an attempt to force slavery on an unwilling people, but 
no reason why the right should not be recognized by the Federal 
Government as one belonging to the equal privileges and iuiuiu- 
nities of every citizen of the United States. 

But the main point of the Senator's argument — and it deserved 
to be so, because it is the main question now in the public mind — 
was, what is the meaning of non-intervention ? He defined it to 
be synonymous with squatter sovereignty, or with popular sov- 
ereignty 

The Senator and myself do not seem to be getting any nearer 
together; because the very thing which he describes constitutes 
the only case in which I would admit the necessity, and, conse- 
quently, the propriety of the people acting without authority. If 
men were cast upon a desert island, the sovereignty of which was 
unknown, over which no jurisdiction was exercised, they would 
find themselves necessitated to establish rules which should sub- 
sist between themselves; and so the people of California, when the 
Congress failed to give them a government ; when it refused to 
enact a territorial law ; when, paralyzed by the power of contend- 
ing factions, it left the immigrants to work their own unhappy 
way ; they had a right — a right growing out of the necessity of 
the case — to make rules for the government of their local aflFairs. 
But this was not sovereignty. It was the exercise, between man 
and man, of a social function necessary to preserve peace in the 
absence of any controlling power — essential to conserve the rela- 
tions of person and property. The sovereignty, if it existed in 
any organization or government of the world, remained there still ; 
and whenever that sovereignty extended itself over them, whether 
shipwrecked mariners, or adventurous Americans — whether cast oflf 
by the sea, or whether finding their weary way across the desert 



170 LIFE OF JEFFERSON DAVIS. 

plains whieli lie west of the Mississippi — whenever the hand of 
the Government holding sovereign jurisdiction was laid upon them, 
they became subject ; their sovereign control of their own affairs 
ceased. In our case, the directing hand of the Government is laid 
upon them at the moment of the enactment of an organic law 
Therefore, the very point at which the Senator begins his sov- 
ereignty, is the point at which the necessity, and, in my view, 
the claim ceases. 

But suppose that a territorial legislature, acting under an or- 
ganic law, not defining their municipal powers further than has 
been general in such laws, should pass a law to exclude slave 
property, would the Senator vote to repeal it? 

Mr. Douglas. I will answer. I would not, because the Dem- 
ocratic party is pledged to non-intervention ; because, furthermore, 
whether such an act is constitutional or not is a judicial question. 
If it is unconstitutional, the court will so decide, and it will be 
null and void without repeal. If it is constitutional, the people 
have a right to pass it. If unconstitutional, it is void, and the 
court will ascertain the fact ; and we pledged our honors to abide 
the decision 

Mr. Davis. If it will not embarrass the Senator, I would ask 
him if, as Chief Executive of the United States, he would sign a 
bill to protect slave property in State, Territory, or District of 
Columbia — an act of Congress? 

Mr. Douglas. It will be time enough for me, or any other 
man, to say what bills he will sign, when he is in a position to 
exercise the power. 

Mr. Davis. The Senator has a right to make me that answer. 
I was only leading on to a fair understanding of the Senator and 
myself about non-intervention 

I think it now appears that, in the minds of the gentlemen, 
non-intervention is a shadowy, unsubstantial doctrine, which has 
its application according to the circumstances of the case. It 



REPLY TO SENATOR DOUGLAS. 171 

ceased to apply when it was necessary to annul an act in Kansas 
in relation to the political rights of the inhabitants. It had no 
application when it was necessary to declare that the old French 
laws should not be revived in the Territory of Kansas after the 
repeal of the Missouri Compromise ; but it rose an insurmountable 
barrier when we proposed to sweep away the Mexican decrees, 
usages, or laws, and leave the Constitution and laws of the United 
States unfettered in their operation in the Territory acquired from 
Mexico. It thus seems to have a constantly varying application, 
and, as I have not yet reached a good definition, one which quite 
satisfies me, I must take it as I find it in the Senator's speech, in 
which he says Alabama asserted the doctrine of non-intervention 
in 1856. The Alabama resolutions of 1856 asserted the right to 
protection, and the duty of the Federal Government to give it. Sa, 
if he stands upon the resolutions of Alabama in 1856, non-inter- 
vention is very good doctrine, and exactly agrees with what I be- 
lieve — no assumption, by the Federal Government, of any powers 
over the municipal territorial governments which is not necessary; 
that the hand of Federal power shall be laid as lightly as possi- 
ble upon any territorial community ; that its laws shall be limited 
to the necessities of each case ; that it shall leave the inhabitants 
as unfettered in the determination of their local legislation as the 
rights of the people of the States will permit, and the duty of the Gen- 
eral Government will allow. But when non-intervention is pressed 
to the point of depriving the arm of the Federal Government of 
its one great function of protection, then it is the doctrine which 
we denounce — which we call squatter sovereignty; the renuncia- 
tion by Congress, and the turning over to the inhabitants a sov- 
ereignty which, rightfully, it does not belong to the one to grant 
or the other to claim, and, further and worse, thus to divest the 
Federal Government of a duty which the Constitution rc<j[uircs it 
to perform. 

To show that this view is not new — that it does not rest singly 



172 LIFE OF JEFFERSON DAVIS. 

on the resolutions of Alabama, I will refer to a subject, the action 
upon which has already been quoted in this debate — the Oregon 
Bill. During the discussion of the Oregon Bill, I offered in the 
Senate, June 23, 1848, an amendment which I will read : 

'■'■Provided, That nothing contained in this act shall be so con- 
strued as to authorize the prohibition of domestic slavery in said 
Territory, whilst it remains in the condition of a Territory of the 
United States." 

Upon this, I will cite the authority of Mr. Calhoun, in his speech 
on the Oregon Bill, June 27, 1848: 

" The twelfth section of this bill is intended to assert and main- 
tain this demand of the non-slaveholding States, while it remains a 
Territory, not openly or directly, but indirectly, by extending the 
provisions of the bill for the establishment of the Iowa Territory 
to this, and by ratifying the acts of the informal and self-consti- 
tuted government of Oregon, which, among others, contains one 
prohibiting the introduction of slavery. It thus, in reality, adopts 
what is called the Wilmot proviso, not only for Oregon, but, as the 
Bill now stands, for New Mexico and California. The amendment, 
on the contrary, moved by the Senator from Mississippi, near me 
[Mr. Davis], is intended to assert and maintain the position of the 
slave-holding States. It leaves the Territory free and open to all 
the citizens of the United States, and would overrule, if adopted, 
the act of the self-constituted Territory of Oregon, and the twelfth 
section, as far as it relates to the subject under consideration. We 
have thus fairly presented the grounds taken by the non-slave- 
holding and the slave-holding States, or as I shall call them, for 
the sake of brevity, the Northern and Southern States, in their 
whole extent, for discussion." — Appendix to Congressional Glohe^ 
Thirtieth Congress, first Session, p. 868. 

I will quote also one of the speeches which he made near the 
close of his life, at a time when he was so far wasted by disease 
that it was necessary' for him to ask the Senator from Virginia, 
who sits before me [Mr. Mason], to read the speech which his 



REPLY TO SENATOR DOUGLAS. 173 

tameless spirit impelled him to compose, but which he was phys- 
ically unable to deliver; aud ouce again he came to the Senate 
chamber, when standing yet more nearly on the confines of death; 
he rose, his heart failing in its functions, his voice faltered, but his 
will was so strong that he could not realize that the icy hand was 
upon him, and he erroneously thought he was oppressed by the 
weight of his overcoat. True to his devotion to the principles he 
had always advocated, clinging, to the last hour of his life, to the 
duty to maintain the rights of his constituents, still he was here, 
and his honored, though feeble, voice was raised for the mainten- 
ance of the great principle to which his life had been devoted. 
From the speech I read as follows : 

"The plan of the administration can not save the Union, because 
it can have no effect whatever towards satisfying the States com- 
posing the Southern section of the Union, that they can, consist- 
ently with safety and honor, remain in the Union. It is, in fact, 
but a modification of the Wilmot proviso. It proposes to effect 
the same object — to exclude the South from all territory acquired 
by the Mexican treaty. It is well known that the South is united 
against the Wilmot proviso, and has committed itself, by solemn 
resolutions, to resist should it be adopted. Its opposition is not to 
the nanie, but that which it proposes to effect. That, the Southern 
States hold to be unconstitutional, unjust, inconsistent with their 
equality as members of the common Union, and calculated to 
destroy irretrievably the equilibrium between the two sections. 
These objections equally apply to what, for brevity, I will call the 
executive proviso. There is no difference between it and the Wil- 
mot, except in the mode of effecting the object; and in that respect, 
I must say that the latter is much the least objectionable. It goes 
to its object openly, boldly, and distinctly. It claims for Congress 
unlimited power over the Territories, and proposes to assert it over 
the territories acquired from 3Iexico by a positive prohibition of 
slavery. Not so the executive proviso. It takes an indirect 
course, and, in order to elude the Wilmot proviso, and thereby 
avoid encountering the united and determined resistance of the 
South, it denies, by implication, the authority of Congress to 



174 LIFE OF JEFFEESON DAVIS. 

legislate for the Territories, and claims the right as belonging 
exclusively to the inhabitants of the Territories. But to effect 
the object of excluding the South, it takes care, in the meantime, 
to let iu immigrants freely from the Northern States, and all other 
quarters, except from the South, which it takes special care to 
exclude by holding up to them the danger of having their slaves 
liberated under the Mexican laws. The necessary consequence is 
to exclude the South from the Territories, just as effectually as 
would the Wilmot proviso. The only difference, in this respect, 
is, that what one proposes to effect directly and openly, the other 
proposes to effect indirectly and covertly. 

"But the executive proviso is more objectionable than the Wil- 
mot in another and more important particular. The latter, to 
effect its object, inflicts a dangerous wound upon the Constitution, 
by depriving the Southern States, as joint partners and owners 
of the Territories, of their rights in them ; but it inflicts no 
greater wound than is absolutely necessary to effect its object. 
The former, on the contrary, while it inflicts the same wound, 
inflicts others equally great, and, if possible, greater, as I shall 
next proceed to explain. 

"In claiming the right for the inhabitants, instead of Con- 
gress, to legislate for the Territories, the executive proviso assumes 
that the sovereignty over the Territories is vested in the former, 
or, to express it in the language used in a resolution offered by 
one of the Senators from Texas [General Houston, now absent], 
they 'have the same inherent right of self-government as the 
people in the States.' The assumption is utterly unfounded, un- 
constitutional, without example, and contrary to the entire prac- 
tice of the Government, from its commencement to the present 
time, as I shall proceed to show." — Calhoun s Works, vol. 4, p. 562. 

Mr. Davis. 1 find that I must abridge, by abstaining from the 
reading of extracts. When this question arose in 1820, Nathaniel 
Macon, by many considered the wisest man of his day, held the 
proposed interference to be unauthorized and innovative. In ar- 
guing against the Missouri Compromise, as it was called — the 
attempt by Congress to prescribe where slaves might or might not 
be held — the exercise, by the Federal Government north of a cer- 



EEPLY TO SENATOR DOUGLAS. 175 

tain point, of usurped power by an act of iuliibition, Mr. Macon 
said our true policy was that which had tlius far guided the coun- 
try in safety: the policy of non-iuterveutiou. By non-intervention 
he meant the absence of hostile legislation, not the absence of gov- 
ernmental protection. Our doctrine on this point is not new, but 
that of our opponents is so. 

The Senator from Illinois assumes that the congressional acts 
of 1850 meant no legislation in relation to slave property; while, 
in the face of that declaration, stand the laws enacted in that year, 
and the promise of another, which has not been enacted — laws 
directed to the question of slavery and slave property ; one even 
declaring, in certain contingencies, as a penalty on the owner, the 
emancipation of his slave in the District of Columbia. If no action 
upon the question was the prevailing opinion, what does the legis- 
lation mean? Was it non-action in the District of Columbia? 
Be it remembered, the resolution of the Cincinnati platform says, 
"Non-interference, by Congress, with slavery in State and Teni- 
tory, or in the District of Columbia." They are all upon the same 
footing. 

Again, he said that the Badger amendment was a declaration of 
no protection to slave property. The Badger amendment declares 
that the repeal of the Missouri Compromise shall not revive the 
laws or usages which preexisted that compromise ; and the history 
of the times, so far as I understand it, is, that it intended to assure 
those gentlemen who feared that the laws of France would be 
revived in the Territories of Kansas and Nebraska, by the repeal 
of the act of 1820, and that they would be held responsible for 
having, by congressional act, established slavery. The Southern 
men did not desire Congress to establish slavery. It has been our 
uniform declaration that we denied the power of the Federal Gov- 
ernment either to establish or prohibit it; that we claimed for it 
protection as property recognized by the Constitution, and we 
claimed the right for it, as property, to go, and to receive federal 



1^ 

176 LIFE OF JEFFERSON DAVIS. 

protection wherever the jurisdiction of the United States is ex- 
clusive. We claim that the Constitution of the United States, in 
recognizing this property, making it the basis of representation, 
put it, not upon the footing which it holds between foreign na- 
tions, but upon the basis of the compact or union of the States; 
that, under the delegated grant to regulate commerce between the 
States, it did not belong to a State; therefore, without breach of 
contract, they can not, by any regulation, prohibit transit, and the 
compact provided that they should not change the character of 
master and slave in the case of a fugitive. Could Congress sur- 
render, for the States and their citizens, the claim and protection 
for those or other constitutional rights, against invasion by a 
State? If not, surely it can not be done in the case of a Terri- 
tory, a possession of the States. The word " protecting," in that 
amendment, referred to laws which preexisted — laws which it was 
not designed, by the Democrats, to revive when they declared the 
repeal of the Missouri Compromise; and, therefore, I think, did 
not aflPect the question of constitutional right and of federal power 
and duty. 

In all these territorial bills we have the language "subject to 
the Constitution ;" that is to say, that the inhabitants are to man- 
age their local affairs in their own way, subject to the Constitu- 
tion ; which, I suppose, might be rendered thus: "In their own 
way, provided their own way shall be somebody else's way;" for 
" subject to the Constitution " means, in accordance with an instru- 
ment with which the territorial inhabitants had nothing to do; 
with the construction of which they were not concerned ; in the 
adoption of which they had no part, and in relation to which it 
has sometimes been questioned whether they had any responsi- 
bility. My own views, as the Senator is aware from previous dis- 
cussions, (and it is needless to repeat,) are that the Constitution 
is co-extensive with the United States; that the designation in- 
cludes the Territories, that they are necessarily subject to the Con- 



REPLY TO SENATOR DOUGLAS. 177 

stitution. But if they be subject to the Constitution, and subject 
to the organic act, that is the language used ; that organic act be- 
ing the law of Congress, that Constitution being the compact of 
the States — the territorial inhabitants having no lot or part in one 
or the other, save as they are imposed upon them — where is their 
claim to sovereignty ? Where is their right to do as they please ? 
The States have a compact, and the agent of the States gives to 
the Territories a species of constitution in the organic act, which 
endures and binds them until they throw oflF what the Senator on 
another occasion termed the minority condition, and assume the 
majority condition as a State. The remark to which I refer was 
on the bill to admit Iowa and Florida into the Union. The Sen- 
ator then said : 

"The father may bind the son during his minority, but the mo- 
ment that he (the son) attains his majority, his fetters are severed, 
and he is free to regulate his own conduct. So, sir, with the Ter- 
ritories ; they are subject to the jurisdiction and control of Con- 
gress during infancy, their minority; but when they attain their 
majority, and obtain admission into the Union, they are free from 
all restraints and restrictions, except such as the Constitution of 
the United States imposes upon each and all of the States." 

This was the doctrine of territorial sovereignty — perhaps that 
is the phrase — at that period. At a later period, in March, 1856, 
the Senator said : 

" The sovereignty of a Territory remains in abeyance, suspended 
in the United States in trust for the people, until they shall be ad- 
mitted into the Union as a State. In the meantime, they arc 
admitted to enjoy and exercise all the rights and privileges of self- 
government, in subordination to the Constitution of the United 
States, and in obedience to the organic law passed by Congress in 
pursuance of that instrument." 

If it be admitted — and I believe there is no issue between the 
Senator and myself on that point — that the Congress of the United 
12 



178 LIFE OF JEFFERSON DAVIS. 

States have no right to pass a law excluding slaves from a Terri- 
tory, or determining in the Territory the relation of master and 
slave, of parent and child, of guardian and ward ; that they have 
no right anywhere to decide what is property, but are only bound 
to protect such rights as preexisted the formation of the Union — 
to perform such functions as are intrusted to them as the agent 
of the States — then how can Congress, thus fettered, confer upon 
a corporation of its creation — upon a territorial legislature, by 
an organic act, a power to determine what shall be property within 
the limits of such Territory ? 

But, again, if it were admitted that the territorial inhabitants 
did possess this sovereignty : that they had the right to do as they 
pleased on all subjects, then would arise the question, if they 
were authorized, through their representatives, thus to act, whence 
came the opposition to what was called the Lecompton Constitu- 
tion ? How did Congress, under this state of facts, get the right 
to inquire whether those representatives in that case really ex- 
pressed the will of the people. Still more ; how did Congress get 
the right to decide that those repi'esentatives must submit their 
action to a popular vote in a manner not prescribed by the people 
of the Territory, however eminently it may have been advisable, 
convenient, and proper in the judgment of the Congress of the 
United States ? What revisory function had we, if they, through 
their representatives, had full power to act on all such subjects 
whatsoever ? 

I have necessarily, in answering the Senator, gone somewhat 
into the argumcntum ad hominem. Though it is not entirely ex- 
hausted, I think enough has been said to show the Senate in 
what the difference between us consists. If it be necessary fur- 
ther to illustrate it, I might ask how did he propose to annul the 
organic act for Utah, if the recognition by the Congress of a suffi- 
cient number of inhabitants to justify the organization of a terri- 
torial government transferred the sovereignty to the inhabitants 



EEl'LY TO SENATOR DOUGLAS. 179 

of the Territory? If sovereignty passed by tlie recoguition of tlic 
fact, how (lid he propose, by congressioual act, to annul the terri- 
torial existence of Utah ? 

It is this confusion of ideas, it is this confounding of terras, 
this changing of language, this applying of new meanings to 
words, out of which, I think, a large portion of the dispute arises. 
For instance, it is claimed that President Pierce, in using the 
phrase "existing and incipient States," meafit to include all Ter- 
ritories, and thus that he had bound me to a doctrine which pre- 
cluded my strictures on what I termed squatter sovereignty. This 
all arises from the misuse of language. An incipient State, ac- 
cording to my idea, is the territorial condition at the moment it 
changes into that of a State. It is when the people assemble in 
convention to form a constitution as a State, that they are in the 
condition of an incipient State. Various names were applied to 
the Territories at an earlier period. Sometimes they were called 
"new States," because they were expected to be States; sometimes 
they were called " States in embryo," and it requires a determina- 
tion of the language that is employed before it is possible to arrive 
at any conclusion as to the differences of understanding between 
gentlemen. Therefore, it was, and, I think, very properly, (but 
not, as the Senator supposed, to catechise him,) that I asked him 
■what he meant by non-intervention, before I commenced these 
remarks. 

In the same line of errors was the confusion which resulted in 
his assuming that the evils I described as growing out of his doc- 
trine on the plains of Kansas, were a denunciation, on my part, 
of the bill called the Kansas-Nebraska Bill. At the time that bill 
passed, I did not foresee all the evils which have resulted from the 
doctrine based upon it, but which I do not think the bill sustains. 
I am not willing now to turn on those who were in a position 
which compelled them to act, made them responsible, and to divest 
myself of any responsibility which belongs to any opinion I enter- 



180 LIFE OF JEFFERSON DAVIS. 

taiued. I will not seek to judge after the fact and hold the 
measure up against those who had to judge before. Therefore I 
will frankly avow that I should have sustained that bill if I had 
been in the Senate ; but I did not foresee or apprehend such evils 
as immediately grew up on the plains of Kansas. I looked then, 
as our fathers had looked before, to the settlement of the question 
of what institutions should exist there, as one to be determined by 
soil and climate, and'by the pleasure of those who should volun- 
tarily go into the country. Such, however, was not the case. The 
form of the Kansas-Nebraska Bill invited to a controversy — not 
foreseen. I was not charging the Senator with any responsibility 
for it, but the variation of its terms invited contending parties to 
meet on the plains of Kansas, and had well-nigh eventuated in 
civil war. The great respect which even the most lawless of those 
adventurers in Kansas had for the name and the laws of the United 
States, served, by the timely interposition of the Federal force and 
laws, to restrain the excited masses and prevented violence from 
assuming larger proportions than combats between squads of ad- 
venturers. 

This brings me in the line of rejoinder, to the meaning of the 
phrase, " the people of a Territory, like those of a State, should 
decide for themselves," etc., the language quoted against the Pres- 
ident in the remarks of the Senator. This, it was announced, was 
squatter sovereignty in its broadest sense ; and it was added, that 
the present Executive was elected to the high office he holds on 
that construction of the platform. Now, I do not know how it is 
that the Senator has the power to decide why the people voted 
for a candidate. I rather suppose, among the many millions who 
did vote, there must have been a variety of reasons, and that it is 
not in the power of any one man to declare what determined the 
result. But waiving that, is it squatter sovereignty in its broadest 
sense ? Is it a declaration that the inhabitants of a Territory can 
exercise all the powers of a State? It says that, "like the peo- 



EErLY TO 8ENATOII DOUGLAS. 181 

plc of a State," they may decide for themselves. Then ho\Y do 
the people of a State decide the question of what shall be prop- 
erty within the State? Every one knows that it is by calUn<^ a 
convention, and that the people, represented in convention, and 
forming a constitution their fundamental law, do this. Every one 
knows that, under the constitutions and bills of rights which pre- 
vail in the republican States of this Union, no legislature is in- 
vested with that power. If this be the mode which is prescribed 
in the States — the modes which the States must pursue — I ask 
you, in the name of common sense, can the language of the Pres- 
ident be construed to mean that a territorial legislature may do 
what it is admitted the legislature of a State can not ; or that the 
inhabitants of a Territory can assemble a convention, and form a 
fundamental law overriding the organic act, to which the Senator 
has already acknowledged they stand subject uitil they be admit- 
ted as a State? 

We of the South, I know, are arraigned, and many believe justly, 
for starting a new question which distracts the Democratic party. 
I have endeavored, therefore, to show that it is not new. I have 
also asserted, what I think is clear, that if it were new, but yet a 
constitutional right, it is not only our province, but our duty to 
assert it — to assert it whenever or wherever that right is contro- 
verted. It is asserted now with more force than at a former 
period, for the simple reason that it is now denied, to an extent 
which has never been known before. AVe do not seek, in the cant 
language of the day, to force slavery on an unwilling people. We 
know full well there is no power to do it; and our limited obser- 
vation has not yet made us acquainted with the man who was 
likely to have a slave forced upon him, or who could get one with- 
out paying a very high price for him. He must first have the will, 
and, secondly, he must put money in his purse to enable him to get 
one. They are too valuable among those by whom they ai*e now 
owned, to be forced upon any body. Not admitting the correctness 



182 LIFE OF JEFFERSON DAVIS. 

of tlie doctriue whicli the Senator promulgated in his magazine 
article in relation to a local character of slave property, I recog- 
nize the laws of nature, and that immigration will follow in the lines 
where any species of labor may be most profitably employed ; all, 
therefore, we have asked — fulfillment of the original compact of our 
fathers — was that there should be no discrimination ; that all prop- 
erty should be equally protected ; that we should be permitted to 
go into every portion of the United States save where some sov- 
ereign power has said slaves shall not be held, and to take with 
us our slave property in like manner as we would take any other ; 
no more than that. For that, our Government has contended on 
the high seas against foreign powers. That has entered into our 
negotiations, and has been recognized by every government against 
whom a claim has been asserted. Where our property was cap- 
tured on the land during the period of an invasion. Great Britain, 
by treaty, restored it, or paid for it. Wherever it has sufi'ered loss 
on the high seas, down to a very recent period, we have received 
indemnity ; and where we have not, it was only because the power 
and duty of the Federal Government was sacrificed to this miser- 
able strife in relation to property, with the existence of which, 
those making the interference had no municipal connection, or 
moral responsibility. 

I do not admit that sovereignty necessarily exists in the Fed- 
eral Government or in a territorial government. I deny the Sen- 
ator's proposition, which is broadly laid down, of the necessity 
which must exist for it in the one place or the other. I hold 
that sovereignty exists only in a State, or in the United States in 
their associated capacity, to whom sovereignty may be transferred, 
but that their agent is incapable of receiving it, and, still more, 
of transferring it to territorial inhabitants. 

I was sorry for some of the remarks which he thought it neces- 
sary to make, as to the position of the South on this question, 
and for his assertion that the resolutions of the convention of 



REPLY TO SENATOR DOUGLAS. 183 

18i8 put the pro-slavery men and the Aholitiouists on the same 
grouud. I think it was altogether unjust. I did uot think it 
(juite belonged to hira to make it. I was aware that his opponent, 
in that canvass to which I referred, had made a prophecy that he 
Was, sooner or later, to land in the ranks of the Republicans. 
Even if I had believed it, I would uot have chosen — and it is due 
to candor to say I do not believe 

31r. Davis. Well, it is unimportant. I feel myself constrained, 
because I promised to do it, to refer to .some portion of the joint 
record of the Senator and myself in 1850, or, as I have consumed 
so much time, I would avoid it. In that same magazine article, 
to which I have referred, the Senator took occasion to refer to 
some part which I had taken in the legislation of 1850 ; and I 
must say he presented me unfairly. He put me in the attitude 
of one who was seeking to discriminate, and left himself iu the 
position of one who was willing to give equal protection to all 
kinds of property. In that magazine article the Senator repre- 
sents Mr. Davis, of Mississippi, as having endeavored to discrim- 
inate iu favor of slave property, and Mr. Chase, of Ohio, as hav- 
ing made a like attempt against it; and he leaves himself, by his 
argument, in the attitude of one who concurred with Mr. Clay in 
opposition to both propositions. 

I offered an amendment to the compromise bill of 1850, which 
was to strike out the words "in respect to," and insert "and in- 
troduce or exclude," and after the word "slavery" to insert the 
following: 

" Provided, That nothing herein contained shall be construed 
to prevent said territorial legislature passing such laws as may be 
necessary for the protection of the rights of property of any kind 
which may have been or may be hereafter, conformably to the Con- 
stitution and laws of the United States, held in, or introduced into, 
said Territory." 

Mr. Chase's amendment is in these words: 



184 LIFE OF JEFFERSON DAVIS. 

" Provided further, That nothing herein contained shall be con- 
strued as authorizing or permitting the introduction of slavery, or 
the holding of persons as property within said Territory." 

Whilst the quotation in the magazine article left me in the po- 
sition already stated, the debates which had occurred between us 
necessarily informed the Senator that it was not my position, for I 
brought him in that debate to acknowledge it. 

On that occasion, I argued for my amendment as an obligation 
of the Government to remove obstructions ; to give the fair opera- 
tion to constitutional right ; and so far from the Senator having 
stood with Mr. Clay against all these propositions, the fact appears, 
on page 1134 of the Globe, that, upon the vote on Chase's amend- 
ment, Douglas voted for it, and Davis and Clay voted against it; 
that upon the vote on Davis' amendment, Clay and Davis voted 
for it, and Douglas voted against it. 

Mb. Douglas. The Senator should add, that that vote was 
given under the very instructions to which he referred the other 
day, and which are well known to the Senate, and are on the table. 

Mr. Davis. I was aware that the Senator had voted for Mr. 
Seward's amendment, the "Wilmot proviso," under these instruc- 
tions, but I receive his explanation. Mr. Berrien offered an amend- 
ment to change the provision, which said there should be no legis- 
lation in respect to slavery, so as to make it read, " there shall be 
no legislation establishing or prohibiting African slavery." Mr. 
Clay voted for that ; so did Mr. Davis. Mr. Douglas voted against 
it. Mr. Hale offered an amendment to Mr. Berrien's amendment, 
to add the word "allowing." Here Mr. Douglas voted for Mr. 
Hale's amendment, and against Davis and Clay. Then a propo- 
sition was made to continue the Mexican laws against slavery until 
repealed by Congress. I think 1 proved — at least I did to my own 
satisfaction — that there was no such Mexican law; that it was a de- 
cree, and that the legislation which occurred under it had never 
been executed. But that proposition by Mr. Baldwin, which was 



EEPI.Y TO SKXATOU DOUOLAS. 185 

to continue the Mexican laws in force, was brouglit to a vote, and 
again Mr. Douglas voted for it, and Mr, Davis and Mr. Clay voted 
against it. When another proposition was brought forward to 
amend by " removing the obstructions of Mexican laws and usa^^es 
to any right of person or property by the citizens of the United 
States in the Tei-ritories aforesaid," I do not find the Senator's 
name among those who voted, though, by reference to the Appen- 
dix, I learned he was present immediately afterwards, by his speak- 
ing to another amendment. 

Thus we find the Senator differing from me on this question, as 
was stated; but we do not find him concurring with Mr. Clay, as 
was stated; and we do not find the proposition which I introduced, 
and which was mentioned in the magazine article, receiving the 
joint opposition of himself and Mr. Clay; and yet his remarks in 
the Senate the other day went upon the same theory, that Mr. 
Clay and himself had been cooperating. Now, the fact of the case 
is, that they agreed in supporting the final passage of the bill, and 
I was against it. I was one of the few Southern men who resisted, 
in all its stages, what was called the compromise, or omnibus bill. 
I have consumed the time of the Senate by this reference, made as 
brief as I could, on account of the remarks the Senator had made. 

Coupled with this arraignment of myself, at a time when he says 
he had leisure to discuss the question with the Attorney-General, 
but when there was nothing in my position certainly to provoke 
the revision of my course in Congress, is his like review of it in 
the Senate. As I understood his remarks, for I did not find them 
in the Congressional Glohe the next morning, he vaunted his own 
consistency and admitted mine, but claimed his to be inside and 
mine outside of the Democratic organization. Is it so? Will our 
votes on test questions sustain it? The list of yeas and nays would, 
on the points referred to, exhibit quite the reverse. And it strikes 
me that, on the recent demonstrations we have had, when the Dem- 
ocratic administration was, as it were, put on its trial in relation to 



186 LIFE OF JEFFERSON DAVIS. 

its policy in Kansas, the Senator's associations, ratlier than mine, 
were outside of the Democratic organization. How is it, on the 
pending question — the declaration of great principles of political 
creed — the Senator's position is outside of the Senate's Democracy, 
and mine in it, so that I do not see with what justice he attempts 
that discrimination between him and me? That the diflfereuce ex- 
ists, that it involves a division greater or less in Democratic ranks, 
is a personal regret, and I think a public misfortune. It gives 
me, therefore, no pleasure to dwell upon it, and it is now dismissed. 

Mr. President, after having for forty years been engaged in 
bitter controversy over a question relating to common property 
of the States, we have reached the point where the issue is pre- 
sented in a form in which it becomes us to meet it according to 
existing facts; whei-e it has ceased to be a question to be decided 
on the footing of authority, and by reference to history. We have 
decided that too long had this question been disturbing the peace 
and endangering the Union, and it was resolved to provide for its 
settlement by treating it as a judicial question. Now, will it be 
said, after Congress provided for the adjustment of this question 
by the courts, and after the courts had a case brought before them, 
and expressed an opinion covering the controversy, that no addi- 
tional latitude is to be given to the application of the decision of 
the court, though Congress had referred it specially to them ; that 
it is to be treated simply and technically as a question of mcinn et 
tuum, such as might have arisen if there had been no such legis- 
lation by Congress? Surely it does not become those who have 
pointed us to that provision as the peace-offering, as the means for 
final adjustment, now to say that it meant nothing more than that 
the courts would go on hereafter, as heretofore, to try questions of 
property. 

The courts have decided the question so far as they could decide 
any political question. A case arose in relation to property in a 
slave held within a Territory where a law of Congress declared 



REPLY TO SENATOR DOUGLAS. 187 

tlia such property should not be held. The whole case was before 
them; every thing, except the mere technical point that the law 
was not enacted by a territorial legislature. Why, then, if we 
are to abide by the decision of the Supreme Court in any future 
ease, do they maiutaiu this controversy on the mei'e technical point 
which now divides, disturbs, distracts, destroys the eflSciency and 
the power of the Democratic party? To the Senator, I know, as a 
question of property, it is a matter of no consequence. I should 
do him injustice if I left any one to infer that I treated his arou- 
ment as one made by a man prejudiced against the character of 
property involved in the question. That is not his position ; but 
I assert that he is pursuing an ignis fatinis — not a light caught 
from the Constitution — but a vapor which has arisen from the cor- 
rupting cess-pools of sectional strife, of fiiction, and individual 
rivalry. Measured by any standard of common sense, its magni- 
tude would be too small to disturb the adjustment of the balance 
of our country. There can be no appeal to humanity made upon 
this basis. Least of all could it be made to one who, like the Sen- 
ator and myself, has seen this species of property in its sjiarse con- 
dition on the north-western frontier, and seen it go out without 
disturbing the tranquillity of the community, as it had previously 
existed without injury to any one, if not to the benefit of the in- 
dividual who held it. He has no apprehension, he can have none, 
that it is to retard tlie political prosperity of the future States — 
now the Territories. He can have no apprehension that in that 
counti-y, to which they never would be carried except for domestic 
purposes, they could ever so accumulate as to constitute a great po- 
litical element. He knows, and every man who has had experience 
and judgment must admit, that the few who may be so carried there 
have nothing to fear but the climate, and that living in that cloye 
connection which belongs to one or half a dozen of them in a fam- 
ily, the kindest relations which it is possible to exist between mas- 
ter and dependent, exist between these domestics and their owners. 



188 LIFE OF JEFFERSOX DAVIS. 

There is a relation belonging to tliis species of property, unlike 
that of the apprentice or the hired man, which awakens whatever 
there is of kindness or of nobility of soul in the heart of him who 
owns it ; this can only be alienated, obscured, or destroyed by col- 
lecting this species of property into such masses that the owner is 
not personally acquainted with the individuals who compose it. In 
the relation, however, which can exist in the north-western Terri- 
tories, the mere domestic connection of one, two, or, at most, half 
a dozen servants in a family, associating with the children as they 
grow up, attending upon age as it declines, there can be nothing 
against which either philanthropy or humanity can make an appeal. 
Not even the emancipationist could raise his voice, for this is the 
high road and the open gate to the condition in which the masters 
would, from interest, in a few years, desire the emancipation of 
every one who may thus be taken to the north-western frontier. 

Mr. President, I briefly and reluctantly referred, because the 
subject had been introduced, to the attitude of Mississippi on a 
former occasion. I will now as briefly say, that in 1851, and in 
1860, Mississippi was, and is, ready to make every concession 
which it becomes her to make to the welfare and the safety of the 
Union. If, on a former occasion, she hoped too much from frater- 
nity, the responsibility for her disappointment rests upon those who 
fail to fulfill her expectations. She still clings to the Grovernment 
as our fathers formed it. She is ready to-day and to-morrow, as in 
her past, and though brief, yet brilliant history, to maintain that 
Government in all its power, and to vindicate its honor with all the 
means she possesses. I say brilliant history ; for it was in the very 
morning of her existence that her sons, on the plains of New Or- 
leans, were announced, in general orders to have been the admiration 
of one army and the wonder of the other. That we had a division 
in relation to the measures enacted in 1850, is true ; that the 
Southern rights men became the minority in the election which re- 
sulted, is true ; but no figure of speech could warrant the Senator 



REPLY TO SENATOR DOUGLAS. 189 

in speaking of them as subdued ; as coming to him or any body 
else for quartei". I deemed it offensive when it was uttered, and 
the scorn with which I repelled it at the instant, time has only 
softened to contempt. Our flag was never borne from the field. 
We had carried it in the fice of defeat, with a knowledge that de- 
feat awaited it ; hut scarcely had the smoke of the battle passed 
away which proclaimed another victor, before the general voice ad- 
mitted that the field again was ours ; I have not seen a sagacious, 
reflecting man, who was cognizant of the events as they transpired 
at the time, who does not say that, within two weeks after the 
election, our party was in a majority; and the next election which 
occurred showed that we possessed the State beyond controversy. 
How we have wielded that power it is not for me to say. I trust 
others may see forbearance in our conduct — that, with a determi- 
nation to insist upon our constitutional rights, then and now, there 
is an unwavering desire to maintain the Government, and to up- 
hold the Democratic party. 

We believe now, as we have asserted on former occasions, that 
the best hope for the perpetuity of our institutions depends upon 
the cooperation, the harmony, the zealous action of the Democratic 
party. We cling to that party from conviction, that its principles 
and its aims are those of truth and the country, as we cling to 
the Union for the fulfillment of the purposes for which it was 
formed. Whenever we shall be taught that the Democratic party 
is recreant to its principles ; whenever we shall learn that it can 
not be relied upon to maintain the great measures which consti- 
tute its vitality, I, for one, shall be ready to leave it. And so, 
when we declare our tenacious adherence to the Union, it is the 
Union of the Constitution. If the compact between the States is 
to be trampled into the dust; if anarchy is to be substituted fo^: 
the usurpation and consolidation which threatened the Government 
at an earlier period ; if the Union is to become powerless for the 
purposes for which it was established, and we are vainly to appeal 



190 JAFE OF JKFFKIiSOX DAVIS. 

to it for protection, tlien, sir, conscious of the rectitude of our 
course, the justice of our cause, self-reliant, yet humbly, confid- 
ino-ly trusting in the arm that guided and protected our fathers, 
we look beyond the confines of the Union for the maintenance of 
our ri"-hts. A habitual reverence and cherished aiFection for the 
Government will bind us to it longer than our interests would 
suggest or require ; but he is a poor student of the world's history 
who does not understand that communities at last must yield to 
the dictates of their interests. That the affection, the mutual de- 
sire for the mutual good, which existed among our fathers, may be 
weakened in succeeding generations by the denial of right, and 
hostile demonstration, until the equality guaranteed, but not 
secured within the Union, may be sought for without it, must be 
evident to even a careless observer of our race. It is time to be 
up and doing. There is yet time to remove the causes of dissen- 
sion and alienation which are now distracting, and have for years 
past divided the country. 

If the Senator correctly described me as having, at a former 
period, against my own preferences and opinions, acquiesced in the 
decision of my party ; if when I had youth, when physical vigor 
gave promise of many days, and the future was painted in the 
colors of hope, I could thus surrender my own convictions, my 
own prejudices, and cooperate with my political friends, according 
to their views, as to the best method of promoting the public good; 
now, when the years of my future can not be many, and experi- 
ence has sobered the hopeful tints of youth's gilding; when, ap- 
proaching the evening of life, the shadows are reversed, and the 
mind turns retrospectively, it is not to be supposed that I would 
abandon lightly, or idly put on trial, the party to which I have 
steadily adhered. It is rather to be assumed that conservatism, 
which belongs to the timidity or caution of increasing years, would 
lead me to cling to — to be supported by, rather than to cast off, the 
organization with which I have been so long connected. If I am 



REPLY TO SENATOR DOUGLAS. 191 

driven to consider the necessity of separating myself from tho.^e 
old and dear rolatious, of discarding the accustomed support, under 
circumstances such as I have described, might not my friends who 
differ from me pause and inquire whether there is not something 
involved in it which calls for their careful revision? 

I desire no divided flag for the Democratic party, seek not to 
depreciate the power of the Senator, or take from him any thing 
of that confidence he feels in the large army which follows his 
standard. I prefer that his banner should lie in its silken folds 
to feed the moth ; but if it unrestrainedly rustles, impatient to be 
unfurled, we who have not invited the conflict, shrink not from 
the trial ; we will plant our flag on every hill and plain ; it shall 
overlook the Atlantic and welcome the sun as he rises from its 
dancing waters ; it shall wave its adieu as he sinks to repose in 
the quiet Pacific. 

Our principles are national ; they belong to every State of the 
Union ; and though elections may be lost by their assertion, they 
constitute the only foundation on which we can maintain power, 
on which we can again rise to the dignity the Democracy once 
possessed. Does not the Senator from Illinois see in the sectional 
character of the vote he received, that his opinions are not accept- 
able to every portion of the country? Is not the fact that the 
resolutions adopted by seventeen States, on which the greatest re- 
liance must be placed for Democratic support, are in opposition 
to the dogma to which he still clings, a warning that if he persists 
and succeeds in forcing his theory upon the Democratic party, its 
days are numbered ? Wc ask only for the Constitution. We ask 
of the Democracy only from time to time to declare, as current 
exigencies may indicate, what the Constitution was intended to 
secure and provide. Our flag bears no new device. Upon its folds 
our principles are written in living light; all proclaiming the con- 
stitutional Union, justice, equality, and fraternity of our ocean- 
bound domain, for a limitless future. 



192 LIFE OF JEFFEESON DAVIS. 



CHAPTER yil. 



ELECTION OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN — HISTORICAL IMPORTANCE OF THE EVENT — 
THE OBJECTS AIMED AT BY HISTORY AND BIOGRAPHY IDENTICAL IN THE DIS- 
CUSSION OF EVENTS OF THE LATE WAR NORTHERN EVASION OF THE REAL 

QUESTION — THE SOUTH DID NOT ATTEMPT REVOLUTION — SECESSION A JUSTI- 
FIABLE RIGHT EXERCISED BY SOVEREIGN STATES — BRIEF REVIEW OF THE 
QUESTION — WHAT THE FEDERALIST SAYS — CHIEF-JUSTICE MARSHALL — ^ME. 
MADISON — COERCION NOT JUSTIFIED AT THE NORTH PREVIOUS TO THE LATE 

WAR — REMARKS OF JOHN QUINCY ADAilS OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN — OF HORACE 

GREELEY SUCCESSFUL PERVERSION OF TRUTH BY THE NORTH PROVOCATIONS 

TO SECESSION BY THE SOUTH — AGGRESSIONS BY THE NORTH — ITS PUNIC 
FAITH — LOSS OF THE BALANCE OF POWER — PATIENCE OF THE SOUTH — 
REMARKS OF HON. C. C. CLAY — WHAT THE ELECTION OP MR. LINCOLN 

MEANT — HIS ADMINISTRATIVE POLICY REVELATIONS OF THE OBJECTS OP 

THE REPUBLICAN PARTY — ^WENDELL PHILLIPS — NO SECURITY FOR THE 
SOUTH IN THE UNION — MEETING OF CONGRESS — MR. DAVIs' ASSURANCE 
TO PRESIDENT BUCHANAN CONCILIATORY COURSE OP MR. DAVIS — HIS CON- 
SISTENT DEVOTION TO THE UNION, AND EFFORTS TO SAVE IT — FORESEES 
WAR AS THE RESULT OP SECESSION, AND URGES THE EXHAUSTION OP EVERY 
EXPEDIENT TO AVERT IT — THE CRITTENDEN AMENDMENT — HOPES OF ITS 
ADOPTION — DAVIS WILLING TO ACCEPT IT IN SPITE OP ITS INJUSTICE TO 
THE SOUTH — REPUBLICAN SENATORS DECLINE ALL CONCILIATORY MEASURES 
THE CLARKE AMENDMENT WHERE RESTS THE RESPONSIBILITY OP DIS- 
UNION? STATEMENTS OP MESSRS. DOUGLAS AND COX SECESSION OP THE 

COTTON STATES — A LETTER FROM JEFFERSON DAVIS TO R. B. RHETT, JR. — 

ME. DAVIs' FAREWELL TO THE SENATE — HIS REASONS FOE WITHDRAWING 

RETURNS TO MISSISSIPPI — MAJOR-GENERAL OP STATE FORCES — ORGANIZATION 
OF THE CONFEDERATE GOVERNMENT — ME. DAVIS PEESIDENT OF THE CON- 
FEDERATE STATES. 



A 



S had been foreseen, and, indeed, as was the inevitable 
sequence of the disruption of the Democratic party, Abra- 



ELECTION OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 193 

liara Lincoln, the candidate of the Republican party, was, in 
November, 1860, elected President of the United States. This 
was the supreme and sufficient incitement to the ade)ption of 
the dreaded resort of disunion. As the occasion which finally 
brought the 'South to the attitude of resistance, tlie event ac- 
quires vast historical importance. 

When it is conceded that Mr. Lincoln was elected in ac- 
cordance with the forms of the Constitution, having received 
a majority of electoral votes ; that the mere ceremony of elec- 
tion was attended by no unusual circumstances, we concede 
every possible ground upon which can be based an argument 
denying its ample justification of the course pursued by the 
South. Such an argument, however, leads to a wholly unten- 
able conclusion, and may be easily exposed in its hypocritical 
evasion of the real question. We are here required to note 
the distinction between caiLse and occasion. As the final con- 
summation of tendencies, long indicating the result of dis- 
union, this event has an appropriate place in the recapitulation 
of those influences, and can be rightly estimated only in con- 
nection with their operation. 

Trite observations upon the influence of passion and preju- 
dice, over contemporary judgment, are not necessary to a due 
conception of the obstacles which, for the present, exclude 
candor from the discussion of the late movement for South- 
ern independence. In the face of the disastrous overthrow 
of that movement, the wrecked hopes and fortunes of those 
who participated in it, discussion is chiefly serviceable, as it 
throws additional light upon the development of those eternal 
principles in whose ceaseless struggles men are only temporary 
agents. 

History and biography arc here most intimately blended; 
13 



194 LIFE OF JEFFERSON DAVIS. 

beginning from the same stand-point, they encounter common 
difficulties, and aim to explore the same general grounds of 
observation. So far as a verdict — from whatever tribunal, 
whether rendered at the bar of justice or in the award of pop- 
ular opinion, when the embers of recent strife are still fiercely 
glowing — can affect the dispassionate judgment of History, 
the Southern people can not be separated, either in fact or 
in sentiment, from Jefferson Davis. He was the illustrious 
compatriot of six millions of freemen, who struck for nation- 
ality and independence, and lost — as did Greece and Poland 
before them; or he- and they were alike insurgents, equally 
guilty of the crime of treason. 

With an adroitness which does credit to the characteristic 
charlatanism of the North, an infinite variety of special ques- 
tions and side issues have been interwoven with the narrative 
of the late war, for the obvious purpose of confounding the 
judgment of mankind regarding the great question which 
really constitutes the gravamen of the controversy. Conspic- 
uous among these efforts, from both audacity and plausibility, 
are appeals to the sympathies of the world, in consideration of 
the abolition of slavery, which it is well known was merely an 
incident, and not the avowed design of the war. 

Persistent in its introduction of the moral question of slav- 
ery, the North seeks to shield itself from the reproach justly 
visited upon its perpetration of an atrocious political crime, by 
an insolent intrusion of a false claim to the championship) of 
humanity. Whatever may be the decision of Time upon the 
merits of slavery, it is in vain for the North to seek escape 
from its responsibility for an institution, protected and sus- 
tained by a government which was the joint creation of South- 
ern and Northern hands. 



SECESSION NOT REVOLUTION. 195 

The attempted dissolution of the Union by the South was 
a movement involving moral and political considerations, not 
unlike those incidental to revolutions in general, yet presenting 
certain peculiar characteristics, traceable to the inherent and 
distinctive features of the American political system. These 
latter considerations constitute a vital part of its justification. 
The South did not appeal only to the inalienable right of rev- 
olution, which is the natural guarantee of resistance to wrong 
and oppression. Nor did the States, severally, as they as- 
sumed to sever their connection with the Union, announce a 
purpose of constitutional revolution, or adopt a course invit- 
ing or justifying violence, Mr. Davis and those who cooper- 
ated with him, neither by the acts of secession, nor the sub- 
sequent confederation of the States under a new government, 
could have committed treason against Mr. Lincoln, since they 
were not his subjects. Nor yet were they traitors to the Gov- 
ernment of the United States, since the States of which they 
were citizens had rescinded the grant of powers voluntarily 
made by them to that Government, and begun to exercise 
them in conjunction with other powers which they had with- 
held by express reservation. 

It is impossible to conceive a movement, contemplating such 
important political changes, more entirely unattended by dis- 
plays of violence, passion, and disorder. A simple assertion, 
with due solemnity, by each State, of its sovereignty — a herit- 
age which it Jiad never surrendered, but which had been re- 
spected by innumerable forms of recognition in the history 
of the Union — and the exercise of those attributes of sover- 
eignty, which are too palpable to require that they shall be 
indicated, was the peaceable method resorted to of terminating 
a political alliance which had become injurious to the highest 



196 LIFE OF JEFFERSON DAVIS. 

interests of one of the parties. Could there have been a more 
becoming and dignilied exercise of the vaunted right of self- 
government? It is that right to which America is so con- 
spicuously committed, and which has been such an inexhausti- 
ble theme for the tawdry rhetoric of Northern eloquence. 

Even in the insolence of its triumph, the North feels the 
necessity of at least a decent pretext for its destruction of the 
cardinal feature in the American system of government — the 
sovereignty of the States. With habitual want of candor, 
Northern writers pretend that the Constitution of the United 
States does not affirm the sovereignty of the States, and that, 
therefore, secession was treason against that Constitution to 
which they had subscribed ; in other words, the created does 
not give authority to the creator — i. e., the Constitution, which 
the States created, does not accredit sovereignty to the States, 
and, therefore, the States are not sovereign. It is not pre- 
tended that the States were not, each of them, originally inde- 
pendent powers, since they were so recognized by Great Britain, 
in the plainest terms, at the termination of the first revolution. 
Nor is it asserted that the union of the States, under the title 
of United States, was the occasion of any surrender of their 
individual sovereignty, as it was then declared that "each 
State retains its sovereignty, freedom, and independence." A 
conclusive demonstration of the retention of sovereignty by the 
States is seen in the entire failure of the Constitution, either 
by direct assertion or by implication, to claim its surrender 
to the Union. 

If the sovereignty of the States be conceded, the South 
stands justified as having exercised an unquestionable right. 
It was never formally denied, even at the North, until Mr. 
Webster, in his debate with Mr. Calhoun, affirmed the doc- 



A CHALLENGE NOT ACCEPTED. 197 

trine of the supremacy of the Union, to which conclusion the 
Nortliern masses sprung with ahicrity, as an available justifi- 
cation for compelling the submission of the South to the out- 
rages which they had already conuneuced. 

Volumes of testimony have been adduced, proving the the- 
ory of State sovereignty to have been the overwhelmingly 
predominant belief among the statesmen most prominent in 
the establishment of the Union, and in shaping the j)olicy of 
the Government in its earlier history. Argument i)roved an 
unavailing offset to the stern decrees of the sword, and is 
quite unnecessary so long as the unanswerable logic of Cal- 
houn, Davis, and a score of Southern statesmen remains upon 
the national records — a perpetual challenge, as yet unaccepted, 
to the boasted intellect of the North, and a significant warn- 
ing of the final adjudication of the centuries. We shall in- 
trude no argument of our own in support of State sovereignty, 
upon which rests the vindication of the South and her leaders. 
Before us are the apposite and conclusive assumptions of men 
who have been the revered sources of political inspiration 
among Americans. 

The Federalist, that most powerful vindication of the Con- 
stitution, and earnest plea for its adoption by the States, 
assumes that it was a "compact," to which "the States, as 
distinct and independent sovereigns," were the parties. Yet 
this doctrine, the basis upon which rests the august liaiuli- 
work of Madison and Hamilton, the "architects of the Con- 
stitution," when applied by Davis and his ooni]>atriots, becomes 
treason! Such is the extremity to which despotism, in its 
wretched plea of expediency, is driven; and the candid, en- 
lightened American of to-day realizes, in his country, a laud 
in which "truth is treason, and history is rebelliou." 



198 LIFE OF JEFFERSON DAVIS. 

Chief-Justice Marshall, the great judicial luminary of Amer- 
ica, and an authority not usually summoned to the support of 
doctrines hostile to the assumptions of Federal power, gave 
most emphatic testimony to the propriety of the States' Rights 
view of tlie relations of State and Federal authority. In the 
Virginia Convention which ratified the Constitution, he said: 
"The State governments did not derive their powers from 
the General Government. But each government derived its 
powers from the people, and each was to act according to the 
powers given it. Would any gentleman deny this? He de- 
manded, if powers not given were retained by implication? 
Could any man say, no? Could any man say that this power 
was not retained by the States, since it was not given away ? " 
The view so earnestly urged by Marshall, was not only avowed 
generally, but Virginia, Massachusetts, and Pennsylvania in- 
sisted upon a written declaration, in the Constitution, of the 
principle that certain attributes of sovereignty, which they did 
not delegate to the Union, were retained by the States. 

Mr. Madison, whose great abilities were taxed to the utmost 
to secure the ratification of the Constitution by Virginia, vig- 
orously and earnestly defended it against the allegation that 
it created a consolidated government. With the utmost diffi- 
culty, he secured a majority often votes, in the Virginia Con- 
vention, in favor of the Constitution, which his rival, Patrick 
Henry, denounced as destructive of State sovereignty. 

Defining the expression, " We, the people," Mr. Madison 
said : " The parties to it were the people, but not the people 
as composing one great society, but the people as composing 
'thirteen sovereignties.'" To quo.te Mr. Madison again: "If 
it were a consolidated government, the assent of a majority of 
the people would be sufficient to establish it. But it was to 



OriNIONS OF THE FATirKRS. 19^ 

be hiiuUng on the people of a State only by their own separate 
consent." Under the influence of these arguments, and others 
of the same import from jMr. Madison, whom she thought, 
from his close relations to the Constitution, high authority 
upon all questions pertaining to its character, Virginia finally 
acceded to the Union. It is especially noteworthy, however, 
that Virginia, when becoming a party to the Constitution, 
expressly affirmed, in the most solemn manner, the right to 
"resume" her grants of power to the Federal Government. 

In deference to the accumulated evidence upon this subject, 
came the unqualified statement, from eminent Northern au- 
thority,* that, " This right [of secession] must be considered 
an ingredient in the original composition of the General Gov- 
ernment, which, though not expressed, was mutually under- 
stood." 

But whatever may be thought of the prescriptive and in- 
herent right of sovereignty, exercised by the South in with- 
drawing from the Union, as deducible from the peculiar 
nature of the American system, and as expounded by the 
founders of that system, there can be no question as to its 
entire accordance with the spirit of American polity. Au- 
thority is abundant in support of the assertion that, not even 
in the North, previous to the inception of the present revolu- 

* William Rawle, of Philadelphia, an able laAvyer 'and constitutional 
expounder. Mr. Buchanan, in his history of his own administration, 
thus mentions him: "The right of secession found advocates afterwards 
in men of distincrnished abilities and unquestioned patriotism. In 18'25, 
it was maintained by Mr. William Rawle, of Philadelpliia, an eminent 

and universally-respected lawyer His biographer says 

tliat, 'in 1791, he was appointed District Attorney of the United States,' 
and 'the situation of Attorney General was more than once tendered to 
him by Washington, but as often declined,' for domestic reasons." 



200 LIFE OF JEFFEESON DAVIS. 

tion, was tlie idea of a constrained connection with the Union 
entertained. From every source of Northern opinion has come 
indignant repudiation of a coerced association of communities, 
originally united by a common pledge of fealty to the right of 
self-government. 

Upon this subject Mr. John Quincy Adams spoke in lan- 
guage of characteristic fervor: "The indissoluble link of 
union between the people of the several States of this confed- 
erated nation is, after all, not in the right, but in the heart. 
If the day should ever come (may heaven avert it !) when the 
affections of the people of these States shall be alienated from 
each other — when the fraternal spirit shall give way to cold 
indifference, or collision of interest shall fester into hatred, the 
bands of political association will not long hold together par- 
ties no longer attracted by the magnetism of conciliated inter- 
ests and kindly sympathies; and far better will it be for the 
people of the disunited States to part in friendship from each 
other than to be held together by constraint." 

Even Mr. Lincoln, whose statesmanship is not likely to be 
commemorated for its profundity or scholarship, fully com- 
prehended the exaggerated reverence of the American mind 
for the "sacred right of self-government." Now that his 
homely phrases are dignified by the Northern masses with the 
sanctity of the utterances of Deity, assuredly there should be 
no apprehension that his opinions may not be deemed con- 
clusive. In 1848, Mr. Lincoln said: "Any people whatever 
have the right to abolish the existing government, and form 
a new one that suits them better. This is a most valuable, a 
most sacred right." 

A brave affirmation was this of the doctrine of the Declara- 
tion of Independence, that "Governments derive their just 



OPINIONS OF NORTH EEN MEN. 201 

powers from the consent of the governed ; " and one which 
would have commanded the united applause of the North, 
then and now, had the application concerned Hungary, Po- 
land, Greece, or Mexico. But, with reference to the South, 
there was a most important modification of this admirable 
principle of equity and humanity. When asked, "AVhy not 
let the South go?" Abraham Lincoln, the President, in 1861, 
said : " Let the South go ! Where, then, shall we get our rev- 
enue V And the united North reechoed: ^' Let the South go ! 
Where, then, shall we look for the bounties and monopolies which 
have so enriched us at the expense of those improvident, unsus- 
pecting Southerners ? Where shall we find again such patient 
victims of spoliation ? " 

Mr. Horace Greeley frequently and emphatically, previous 
to the war, affirmed the right of changing, its political associ- 
ation asserted by the South. Three days after the election 
of Mr. Lincoln, in November, 1860, his paper, the New York 
Tribune, said : " If the Cotton States shall become satisfied 
that they can do better out of the Union than in it, we insist 

on letting them go in peace We must ever 

resist the right of any State to remain in the Union, and nul- 
lify or defy the laws thereof. To withdraw from tlie Union is 
quite another matter ; and whenever any considerable section of 
our Union shall deliberately resolve to go out, we shall resist all 
coercive measures designed to keep it in. We hope never to live 
in a Republic whereof one section is pinned to another by 
bayonets." On the 17th of December, 1860, the Tribune said: 
" If it [the Declaration of Independence] justifies the secession 
of three millions of colonists in 1776, we do not see why it loould 
not justify the secession of five millions of Southerners from the 
Federal Union in 1861." 



202 LIFE OF JEFFERSON DAVIS. 

Such are a few illustrations, to which might be added innu- 
merable quotations, of the same import, from the most promi- 
nent sources of Northern opinion. Never has there been a 
question so capable of positive solution and easy comprehen- 
sion, when subjected to the test of candid investigation, and 
never so successful a purpose to exclude the illumination of 
facts by persistent and ingenious misrepresentation. The 
North has reason for its extravagant exultation at the skill 
and audacity with which the brazen front of hypocrisy, for a 
time, at least, has successfully sustained, in the name of hu- 
manity and liberty, the most monstrous imposition and trans- 
parent counterfeit of virtue ever designed upon an intelligent age. 

To the triumphant historical vindication of the South, there 
remains only the essential condition of a clear and truthful 
statement of the provocations which impelled her to adopt 
that long-deferred remedy, which is the last refuge of a people 
whose liberties are imperiled. Secession, however strong in 
its prescriptive or implied justification as a principle, was not 
to be undertaken from caprice, or trivial causes of dissatis- 
faction. 

Abuses, numerous, serious, and consecutive, were required 
before disunion became either desirable or acceptable to the 
South. The native conservatism of the Southern character 
renders it peculiarly averse to agitation ; to this were added 
social features, the safety of which would be greatly imper- 
iled by civil war, and thus a train of influences tended to 
make Southern soil, of all others, the least favorable to the 
growth of revolutionary principles. 

In the development of this volume, we have glanced at the 
progress of those sectional differences, at various periods pre- 
cipitated by the insolent aggressions of Abolitionism, which 



NORTHERN AGGRESSION. 203 

steadily depreciated the value of the Union in Southern esti- 
mation. Continued aggressions by her enemies ; their Punic 
faith, illustrated in a scries of violated pledges, and habitual 
disregard of the conditions of the covenant which bound South 
and North together; petty outrages, taunts and insults, ema- 
nating from every possible source of public expression at the 
North, for many years had banished fraternal feeling and 
precluded those interchanges of comity between the sections 
which were the indispensable requisites to national harmony. 
It is undeniable, that for years previous to secession, the sen- 
timental attachment to the Union, which was the distinctive 
characteristic of Southern patriotism — unlike the coarse, utili- 
tarian estimate of the Union as a source of pecuniary profit, 
which constituted its value to the North — had been greatly 
impaired. Since 1850, and to a considerable extent during the 
preceding decade, the most sagacious statesmen of the South 
contemplated disunion as an event almost inevitable, unless 
averted by a contingency of very improbable occurrence. 
There must be an awakening by the North to a more just 
appreciation of its constitutional and patriotic obligations, or 
an unmanly submission by the South, to a condition of de- 
grading inferiority, in a government to whose construction, 
prosperity, and distinction, she had contributed more than a 
proportionate share of influence. 

Chief among the considerations which admonished the South 
of the perils which environed her situation in the Union, was 
the total destruction of that sectional balance, which had been 
wisely adjusted by its founders, as the safeguard of the weaker 
against the stronger influence. Having in mind the wise say- 
ing of Aristotle, that " the weak always desire what is equal 
and just, but the powerful pay no regard to it," the states- 



204 L.IFE OF JEFFERSON DAVIS. 

men of 1787 designedly shaped the chart of government 
with a view to the preservation of equality. The struggle 
between the weaker element, naturally contending in behalf 
of the equilibrium, and the stronger striving for its overthrow, 
was, "at an early period, distinctly foreshadowed. With char- 
acteristic prevision, Alexander Hamilton, probably the fore- 
most statesman of his day, foretold the nature of this contest 
over the principle of equality. Said that sagacious publicist: 
'' The truth is, it is a contest for power, not for liberty." 

This contest, indeed, so long waged, was, many years since, 
decided overwhelmingly against the South. In 1850, the 
Northern majority in the House of Representatives, the pop- 
ular branch of the government, had increased from a majority, 
in 1790, of five votes, to fifty-four. Years before, the legis- 
lation of Congress assumed that sectional bias, which was un- 
deviatingly adhered to for the purpose, and with ample suc- 
cess, of the material depression of the South. Under the 
baleful influences of hostile legislation, of tariffs aimed directly 
at her commercial prosperity, of bounties for fostering multi- 
farious Northern interests, her position in the Union was help- 
less and deplorable in the extreme. Yet, like a rock -bound 
Prometheus, with the insidious elements of destruction gnaw- 
ing at her vitals, the South suffered herself to be chained by an 
influence of sentiment, of association, and reminiscence to the 
Union, fully conscious of the growing rapacity of her despoilcr 
and of her own hopeless decline. Her infatuation was indeed 
marvelous, in trusting to the dawning of justice and gener- 
osity in a fierce, vindictive, and remorseless sectional majority. 

The alarming portents of ultimately complete material pros- 
tration, to be consummated by these perversions of the pur- 
poses of the Union, were terribly significant, in view of the 



A CLEAR STATEMENT OF THE CONTROVERSY. 205 

venom which actuated the enemies of the South. The sec- 
tional balance was hopelessly gone ; Southern material pros- 
perity destroyed by sectional legislation; not a check, originally 
provided by the Constitution for the protection of the weaker 
section, but had been virtually obliterated; Northern perfidy 
illustrated in the violation of every compact which, in opera- 
tion, proved favorable to the South, while the latter was held 
to a rigid fidelity in all agreements favorable to her enemies; 
the nullification, by the legislatures of half the Northern 
States, of Federal laws for the protection of Southern property, 
are a few of those grievances which presented to the South 
the hard and inexorable alternative of resistance, or abject 
submission to endless insult and outrage. 

A Southern Senator,* announcing the secession of his State, 
and his own consequent withdrawal from the Senate, stated 
the question in a form, which even then had the authority of 
history. 

"Not a decade, nor scarce a lustrum, has elapsed (since Ala- 
bama became a State) that has uot been strongly marked by 
proofs of the growth and power of that antislavery spirit of the 
Northern people, which seeks the overthrow of that domestic in- 
stitution of the South, which is not only the chief source of her 
prosperity, but the very basis of her social order and State polity. 
It is to-day the master-spirit of the Northern States, and had 
before the secession of Alabama, of Mississippi, of Florida, or of 
South Carolina, severed most of the bonds of the Union. It de- 
nied us Christian communion, because it could not endure what 
it calls the moral leprosy of slave-holding ; it refused us permis- 
sion to sojourn, or even to pass through the North with our 
property ; it claimed freedom for the slave, if brought by his 

* lion. C. C. Clay, of Alabama. 



206 LIFE OF JEFFERSON DAVIS. 

master into a Northern State ; it violated the Constitution, and 
treaties, and laws of Congress, because designed to protect that 
property ; it refused us any share of lauds acquired mainly by our 
diplomacy, and blood, and treasure; it refused our property any 
Bhelter or security beneath the flag of a common government; it 
robbed us of our property, and refused to restore it ; it refused 
to deliver criminals against our laws, who fled to the North with 
our property or our blood upon their hands; it threatened us by 
solemn legislative acts, with ignominious punishment, if we pur- 
sued our property into a Northern State; it murdered Southern 
men when seeking the recovery of their property on Northern 
soil ; it invaded the borders of Southern States, poisoned their 
wells, burnt their dwellings, and murdered their people ; it de- 
nounced us by deliberate resolves of popular meetings, of party 
conventions, and of religious, and even legislative assemblies, as 
habitual violators of the laws of God and the rights of humanity ; 
it exerted all the moral and physical agencies that human ingenu- 
ity can devise, or diabolical malice can employ, to heap odium 
and infamy upon us, and to make us a by-word of hissing and 
of scorn throughout the civilized world." 

There was no room for uncertainty as to the significance of 
the election of Abraham Lincoln to the Presidency, in 1860, 
by a party exclusively sectional in organization, and upon a 
platform, vv^hich virtually declared the Union, as then consti- 
tuted, in opposition to justice, humanity, and civilization. 

The real danger to the South, involved in this election, 
was that it was a sectional triumph — a victory of North 
over South, in a contest where the South risked every thing, 
the North nothing. From time immemorial sincere patriots 
of both sections had deprecated the formation of sectional par- 
ties, organized upon geographical interests, or upon ideas con- 
fined to limited portions of the Union. Washington, in his 



SIGNIFICANCE OF LINCOLN'S ELECTION. 207 

farewell injunction, admonished his countrymen of the de- 
plorable results which must follow the presentation of such 
issues. 

The Chicago platform was more than a menace to the 
South ; it was a defiance of law, a declaration of war upon the 
Constitution. The election of Lincoln was both a legal and 
moral severance of the bonds of Union. While he received 
the united vote of the North, save New Jersey, he did not 
receive one electoral vote from the South. His shaping of his 
administration was consistent with the character of the party 
which elected him. All his constitutional advisers were North- 
ern men or Southern Abolitionists; social outlaws in their own 
section, in consequence of their notorious personal depravity, 
and infidelity to their immediate fellow-citizens. Of like char- 
acter were the subordinate appointments of the Federal Gov- 
ernment in Southern communities. 

Nor was there reason to doubt the policy of the Govern- 
ment under its new management. Mr. Lincoln had been suf- 
ficiently communicative of his own bitter hostility to Southern 
institutions. In fact, with much show of justice, his admirers 
claimed for him the original suggestion of the idea of an "irre- 
pressible conflict," afterwards so elaborately pronounced by 
William 11. Seward,. Public announcements, from prominent 
speakers of the successful party, amply revealed the feast to 
which the South was invited. Wendell Phillips, the most 
able, eloquent, and sagacious of the original Abolitionists, thus 
pointedly defined the situation : " No man has a right to be 
surj^rised at this state of things. It is just M'hat we have at- 
♦ tempted to bring about. It is the first sectional party ever 
organized in this country. It does not know its own face, and 
calls itself national ; but it is not national — it is sectional. 



208 LIFE OF JEFFERSON DAVIS. 

The Republican party is a party of the Nortli pledged against 
the South." 

Such was the complexion to which political affairs were 
brought by the election of Abraham Lincoln. There remained 
hardly a hope, even for future security or domestic tranquillity 
to the South, except in withdrawal from an association, in which 
she had become an inferior and an outcast — an object of op- 
pression, outrage, and contumely. From a relentless Abolition 
majority she could expect no favors ; and the Northern Democ- 
racy, so long her ally, for common purposes of party, had 
cowered before the storm of fanaticism, and repudiated the 
first demand made upon its fidelity to principle. 

Congress assembled on the first Monday of December, 1860, 
a few weeks subsequent to the Presidential election. Never 
had that body met under circumstances of such gravity. Uni- 
versal foreboding of peril to the nation was mingled with hope 
of such action, as would avert the impending calamities of dis- 
union and civil war. There were few indications, at the open- 
ing of the session, of conciliatory sentiments ; from the repre- 
sentatives of both sections came open defiance, and Northern 
members of both houses were more than ever bold in the utter- 
ance of insult and menace. Before the opening of the session. 
President Buchanan received from Mr. Davis the most satis- 
factory assurances of his cooperation with the administration 
in a pacific policy, having for its object the settlement of the 
national difficulties upon terms promotive of the peace of the 
country, and assuring the security of the South,* To such a 

* It is not to be understood that Mr. Davis approved Mr. Buchanan's pol- 
icy in the winter of 1861. The message of the President disappointed the 
South, and was offensive to many of his most attached supportei's, in con- 
sequence of its denial of tlie right of secession. Denying the right of 



rATKIOTKJ COURSE OF MR. DAVIS. 209 

settlement the eiforts of Mr. Davis were addressed so long as 
there was the slightest ground for the indulgence of hope. 

This session of Congress, the last which was held previous 
to the commencement of civil war, is chiefly interesting as the 
historical record of tliose patriotic elibrts which were made to 
save the Union, and as furnishing incoutestible proof of the 
guilt of those who, by their persistent refusal of all coneiUa- 
tory propositions, are justly responsible for the calamities which 
were to befall the country. Happily for the reputation of Mr. 
Davis, the proof is authentic and conclusive in his favor upon 
these important questions. There is no portion of his career 
in which statesmanship, patriotism, and a noble appreciation 
of the claims of humanity shine forth more conspicuously. So 
overwhelming is the evidence that, in these last days of the 
Union, he was false to none of these high considerations, that 
the most mendacious assailants of himself and the cause he 
lately represented have not yet ventured to call it in question. 

A disposition is frequently evinced to plead for him immu- 
nity from the responsibility of his position, as the leader of the 
Confederate movement, upon the score of his consistent Union- 
ism, manifested in the prevailing conservatism of his course as 
a politician. He needs no such palliation. His devotion to 
the Union of the American fathers was as unquestionable as 
was that of Washington. His patriotism was illustrated by 
every mode of exemplification in the service of country. To 
secession, Mr. Buchanan yet denied, also, the power of coercing the States, 
but subsequently lent himself to the latter policy. Mr. Davis freely tes- 
tified his disappointment at certain positions taken in the Message, and 
criticised them with emphasis, but great courtesy. Mr. Buchanan indi- 
cates the special message of January, 1861, as the occasion of the termi- 
nation of all friendly relations between himself and those whom he terms 
the " secession Senators." 
14 



210 LIFE OF JEFFERSON DAVIS. 

substantiate his attachment to that association of States, de- 
signed by the fathers, sublime in its objects of mutual fidelity, 
generous sympathies, justice, and equality, no elaborate state- 
ment is required, nor could formal vindication strengthen its 
defenses.* He never arrayed himself against such a Union, 
but, abhorring that perverted instrument of sectional aggres- 
sion, which the Government had become, he did accompany 
and lead his fellow-citizens in their exercise of the highest 
privilege of freemen. 

He was always prepared to follow the principles of States' 
Rights to their logical consequences, and was yet consistent jn 
his attachment to the Union. Thus he was a firm believer in 
the absolute sovereignty of the States, and of the enjoyment, 
by the States, of all the attributes of sovereignty, including, 
necessarily, the right of secession. He had never urged the 
expediency of secession, though, upon repeated occasions, he 
had foreshadowed its probable necessity in the future, as the 
only remedy remaining to the South in certain contingencies. 
In the Senate, in 1850, he thus alluded to the possibility of a 
successful organization of a sectional party : " The danger is 
one of our own times, and it is that sectional division of the 
people which has created the necessity of looking to the ques- 
tion of the balance of power, and which carries with it, when 
disturbed, the danger of disunion." 

In 1859, again; he proclaimed, in unequivocal terms, his 
course in the event of the success of a party indorsing the 
Eo^'li^sler pronunciamento of Mr. Seward. Yet his course, 

* It it, a notable fact that, years ago, the strono; and avowed attachment 
of Mr. Davis for the Union, was habitually sneered at by some Southern 
men, who are now seeking to gratify their lust for place by "crooking 
the pregnant hinges of the knee," to those who persecute him and his 
countrymen. 



SEEKS TO AVERT AVAR. 211 

subsequent to the election of Mr. Lincoln, was directed entirely 
in the interest of moderation. Having little hope of conces- 
sion from the enemies of the South, in the moment of their 
overwhelming victory, he yet anxiously, earnestly entered that 
last struggle for the Constitution, before it passed into the 
keeping of iconoclasts, who were pledged to its destruction. 

His zeal in behalf of pacification was actuated by consider- 
ations of humanity, no less ennobling than his impulse of 
disinterested patriotism. Regarding a long and bloody war 
as the certain result of dissolution, he anxiously sought to 
avert that calamitous result, and stood pledged to the accept- 
ance of any basis of settlement which should guarantee the 
safety and honor of the South. At no time, however, did he 
advocate submission. His language in the Senate is explicit. 
Speaking of the secession of Mississippi, he said : " I, how- 
ever, may be permitted to say, that I do think she has justi- j 
fiable cause, and I approve of her act. I conferred with her 
people before that act was taken, counseled them then that, if 
the state of things which they apprehended should exist when 
the convention met, they should take the action which they 
have now adopted." 

During the session, numerous efforts at compromise were 
made, in every instance emanating from Southern Represent- 
atives or Northern Democrats, the dominant party of the 
North declining all tenders of pacification, and offering no 
terms of conciliation in return. It is unnecessary to trace the 
progress of these abortive efforts, which, in the mai"^! i^etetved 
the support of feeble minorities, and had, from their inception, 
no prospect of adoption. 

There was one proposition, and probably only one, which 
embodied a competent basis of settlement, and was entitled to 



212 lifp: of jp:ffkkson davis. 

favor. This was called the " Crittenden Compromise/' and 
originated with the venerable Kentucky Senator, by whose 
name it is designated. For a time it seemed that the demon- 
strations of popular sentiment in its favor, especially the well- 
ascertained readiness of a large majority of the Southern people 
to accept it, and its exceedingly practical nature, as a final 
settlement of the slavery question, would eventually secure its 
adoption by Congress. The result was a disappointment of 
this patriotic expectation, and a conclusive demonstration of 
the purpose of the Republican party to consent to no settle- 
ment which the South could accept. 

An examination of the Crittenden proposition will reveal a 
most striking illustration of the ever-present spirit of accom- 
modation, in matters aifecting the safety of the Union, which, 
even in its last hours, was characteristic of the leaders and 
people of the South, and of the narrow, selfish, and exacting 
sectionalism of the North. In reality, it was little short of a 
surrender, in its ample concessions, to the encroachments of 
Abolitionism. 

The resolutions introduced by Mr. Crittenden, in the Sen- 
ate, on the 18th of December, 1860, contemplated amendments 
to the Constitution having the following objects : The prohib- 
ition of slavery in all Territories north of the old Missouri 
Compromise line, and providing protection for it south of that 
line; a denial of the power of Congress to abolish slavery in 
the District of Columbia, or in ports, arsenels, dock-yards, or 
wherever else the Federal Government exercised jurisdiction; 
remuneration to owners of escaped slaves by communities in 
which the Federal laws, providing rendition of slaves, might 
be violently obstructed. Such were the material features of 
the "Crittenden Compromise." 



THE CRirfENDEN COMPROMISE. 213 

It will be seen at a glance how absurd was the misnomer 
of " compromise " applied to so one-sided a settlement. The 
South was required, by its provisions, to abandon the sacred 
right of protection to her property, guaranteed by the Consti- 
tution and unequivocally re-affirmed by the highest judicial 
tribunal in the land. The Supreme Court, in the Dred Scott 
case, had already decided the right to take slaves into all the 
Territories, while the Crittenden proposition prohibited it en- 
tirely in the major portion of the common Territory, and 
merely tolerated it in the residue. The Constitution, as ex- 
pounded by the Supreme Court, guaranteed the right of intro- 
duction and protection of slavery in all the Territories, in 
whatever latitude, as the common property of the States. The 
Crittenden amendment proposed to confine this right to Ter- 
ritory south of 36° 30', prohibiting, in the meanwhile, slavery 
forever north of that line, and in regions where its legal exist- 
ence had been emphatically affirmed by that august tribunal, 
the Supreme Court. If adopted, it would have yielded every 
thing to Abolition rapacity, save a mere abstraction. Of all 
the vast territory yet remaining to be hereafter divided into 
States, only in New Mexico did it propose even to tolerate 
slavery, and in that locality the laws of nature precluded its 
permanent establishment. 

A few days after its introdution in the Senate, the Critten- 
den amendment was proposed by its author to a special com- 
mittee of thirteen, created on motion of Senator Powell, of 
Kentucky, for the consideration of all questions pertaining to 
the p(5nding national difficulties. This committee M'as com- 
posed of the most eminent and influential Senators, embracing 
five leading Republicans, five Southern Senators, and Messrs. 
Bright, Bigler, and Douglas, on behalf of the Northern De- 



214 LIFE OF JEFFERSON DAVIS. 

mocracy. Mr. Davis, originally api^ointed, at first declined to 
serve, but finally consented, in compliance with the urgent 
requests of other Senators. At the first meeting of the com- 
mittee, 21st December, it was " resolved that no proposition 
shall be reported as adopted, unless sustained by a majority 
of each of the classes of the committee ; Senators of the Repub- 
lican party to constitute one class, and Senators of the other 
parties to constitute the other class." 

This resolution was necessary, in consequence of the obvious 
futility of any settlement which did not meet the approval of 
a majority of the Republican Senators. In this Committee 
the Crittenden proposition was defeated. Not one of the Re- 
publican Senators voted for it, and Messrs. Davis and Toombs 
likewise voted against it when it was ascertained that it would 
not receive the sanction of a majority of the Republican Sen- 
ators. 

Despite its unfairness as a measure of settlement, and its 
great injustice to the South, Mr. Davis would have accepted 
it, as would a large majority of Southern Senators, as a final- 
ity, if the Republican Senators had tendered it. This, how- 
ever, the latter Avere determined not to do, nor did a single 
Republican Senator, at any time during the session, express 
even a desire that any action, conciliatory to the South, should 
be adopted.* Insolent, dictatorial, and defiant, they pro- 
claimed their purpose, at all hazards, to assert the authority 
of the Government, and their acts clearly indicated their stern 

* Mr. Crittenden, whose supreme devotion to the Union, can not be 
called in question, since he continued to cling to the shadow long after 
the substance had departed, and in the midst of actual war continued to 
hope for a final pacific settlement, was greatly incensed at the unpatriotic 
course of the Republican Senators. His gray hairs, his eloquence, his 



THE CLARKE AMENDMENT. 216 

purpose to refuse every proposition contemplating concession 
or compromise. In substitution of the Crittenden adjustment, 
they voted solidly for the amendment of Senator Clarke, of 
New Hampshire, which denied the necessity of amendments 
to the Constitution, which ought to be obeyed rather than 
amended, and declared that the remedy for present difficulties 
was to be sought in a stern enforcement of the laws, rather 
than in assurances to peculiar ideas and guarantees to peculiar 
interests. This palpable defiance, and emphatic avowal of a 
purpose to concede nothing to Southern demands, was in- 
dorsed by the action of Eepublican caucusses of both houses 
of Congress, by resolutions of State Legislatures, and by 
tenders of men and means to compel the submission of the 
South. The entire Republican j^arty were clearly committed 
to the purpose, avowed by Mr. Salmon P. Chase, in a letter 
from the Peace Congress, to Portsmouth, Ohio, to " use the 
power while they had it, and prevent a settlement."* 

On the 31st December, 1860, the Committee of Thirteen 
reported to the Senate their inability to "agree upon any 
general plan of adjustment," and thus, with the arrival of the 
new year, had vanished the last hope of preserving the peace 
of the country. The failure of the Crittenden proposition was 
decisive of the question of pacification ; no other plan of ad- 
justment, that was presented, having either its merits or its 
practical features. 

Southern resistance came none too soon for Northern power, 

unquestioned Unionism, were all unavailing. He was frequently hotly 
denunciatory, of what, equally with Mr. Davis, he regarded a purpose 
to prevent any adjustment which could have a pacifying effect upon the 
country. 

* Statement of Hon. S. S. Cox. 



216 LIFE OP JEFFERSON DAVIS. 

hate, and lust, but far too late for the precious goal of inde- 
pendence. Delay had been fatal, and the golden opportunity- 
long since lost. But there was still time to emulate the 
glorious examples of the past. With marvelous calmness and 
dauntless intrepidity, a heroic race j^repared an exhibition of 
noble devotion and willing sacrifice, the contemplation of 
which revives the memories of Thermopylfe. 

Comparatively of little moment, now, is the question, 
whether the acceptance of this basis of adjustment by the 
South would have been consistent with discretion. In the 
end the result, in all likelihood, would have been the same. 
Had a settlement been reached in 1861, Southern liberties 
must eventually have perished, through the influences of cor- 
ruption and the demoralization engendered by continued sub- 
mission to Avrong, no less effectually than by their overthrow 
in that gallant struggle of arms, which terminated with such 
fatal results. But there still remains the question of respon- 
sibility for those horrors of civil strife, which the failure of 
the Crittenden amendment soon precipitated upon the country. 
Those crimson spots which stain the subsequent history of the 
Republic, are traceable to no parricidal hand raised by the 
South. No historical question has received more satisfactory 
decision than this; and the South is acquitted even by the 
testimony of her enemies. It is unnecessary to give the evi- 
dence of Southern men, when there is such ample testimony 
from those who deprecated and condemned the subsequent 
course of the South. 

Senator Douglas, on the 3d January, 1861, only three days 
after the report of the Committee of Thirteen had been sub- 
mitted, and within hearing of its members, thus expressed 
himself in the course of an address to the Senate : 



STATEMENT OF SENATOR DOUGLAS. 217 

" If you of the Republican side are not willing to accept this 
[a proposition of his own] nor the proposition of the Senator from 
Kentucky [Mr. Crittenden,] pray tell us what are you willing to 
do? I address the inquiry to the Republicans alone, for the 
reason, that in the Committee of Thirteen, a few days ago, every 
member from the South, including those from the Cotton States 
[3Iessrs. Toombs and Davis,] expressed their readiness to accept 
the proposition of my venerable friend from Kentucky [Mr. Crit- 
tenden] as a final settlement of the controversy, if tendered and 
sustained by the Republican members. Hence, the sole responsi- 
bility of our disagreement, and the only difficulty in the way of an 
amicable adjustment, is with the Republican party." 

Again, on the 2d March, 1861, Mr. Douglas re-affirmed 
this important statement. Said he: 

"The Senator has said that if the Crittenden proposition could 
have been passed early in the session, it would have saved all the 
States except South Carolina. I firmly believe it would. While 
the Crittenden proposition was not in accordance with my cherished 
views, I avowed my readiness and eagerness to accept it, in order 
to save the Union, if we could unite upon it. No man has labored 
harder than I have to get it passed. I can confirm the Senator's 
declaration that Senator Davis himself, when on the Committee of 
Thirteen, was ready at all times to compromise on the Crittenden 
proposition, I will go further, and say that Mr. Toombs was also 
ready to do so." 

Hon. S. S. Cox, for several years an able and eloquent 
member of Congress from Ohio, has made a most intere;?ting 
statement upon this subject: 

The vote on the Crittenden proposition was well defined, but is 
not so well understood. From the frequency of inquiries since the 
war as to this latter vote, the people were eager to know upon 



218 LIFE OF JEFFERSON DAVIS. 

whom to fix the responsibility of its failure. It may as well be 
stated that all other propositions, whether of the Peace Convention 
or the Border State project, or the measures of the committees, 
were comparatively of no moment; for the Crittenden proposition 
was the only one which could have arrested the struggle. It would 
have received a larger vote than any other. It would have had 
more effect in moderating Southern excitement. Even Davis, 
Toombs, and others of the Gulf States, would have accepted it. I 
have talked with Mr. Crittenden frequently on this point. Not 
only has he confirmed the public declarations of Douglas and Pugh, 
and the speech of Toombs himself, to this effect, but he said it was 
so understood in committee. At one time, while the committee 
was in session, he said : " Mr. Toombs, will this compromise, as a 
remedy for all wrongs and apprehensions, be acceptable to you?" 
Mr. Toombs, with some profanity, replied: "Not by a good deal; 

but my State will accept it, and I will follow my State to ." 

And he did. 

I will not open the question whether it was wise then to offer 
accommodations. It may not be profitable now to ask whether the 
millions of young men whose bodies are maimed, or whose bones 
are decaying under the sod of the South, and the heavy load of 
public debt under which we sweat and toil, have their compensation 
in black liberty. Nor will I discuss whether the blacks have been 
bettered by their precipitate freedom, passing, as so many have, 
from slavery, through starvation and suffering, to death. There is 
no comfort in the reflection that the negroes will be exterminated 
with the extermination of slavery. The real point is, could not 
this Union have been made permanent by timely settlement, instead 
of cemented by fraternal blood and military rule? By an equitable 
partition of the territory this was possible. We had then 1,200,000 
square miles. The Crittenden proposition would have given the 
North 900,000 of these square miles, and applied the Chicago doc- 
trines to that quantity. It would have left the remaining fourth 



STATEMENT OF MR. COX. 219 

substantially to be carved out as free or slave States, at the option 
of the people when the States were admitted. This proposition 
the radicals denounced. It has been stated, to rid the Republicans 
of the odium of not averting the war when that was possible, that 
the Northern members tendered to the Southern the Crittenden 
compromise, which the South rejected. This is untrue. It was 
tendered by Southern Senators and Northern Democrats to the 
Republicans. It was voted upon but once in the House, when it 
received eighty votes against one hundred and thirteen. These 
eighty votes were exclusively Democrats and Southern Americans, 
like Gilmer, Vance, and others. Mr. Briggs, of New York, was 
the only one not a Democrat who voted for it. He had been an 
old Whig, and never a Republican. The Republican roll, begin- 
ning with Adams and ending with Woodruff, was a unit against 
it. Intermingled with them was one Southern extremist (General 
Hindman) who desired no settlement. There were many Southern 
men who did not vote, believing that unless the Republicans, who 
were just acceding to power, favored it, its adoption would be a 
delusion. 

The plan adopted by the Republican Senators to defeat it was 
by amendment and postponement. On the 1-ith and 15th of Janu- 
ary they cast all their votes against its being taken up ; and on the 
16th, when it came up, Mr. Clark, of New Hampshire, moved to 
strike it out, and insert something which he knew would neither 
be successful nor acceptable. The vote on Clark's amendment 
was 25 to 23; every "aye" being a Republican, and every "no," 
except Kennedy and Crittenden (Americans), being Democrats. 

When this result was announced universal gloom prevailed. 
The people favored this compromise. Petitions by thousands of 
citizens were showered upon Congress for its passage. Had it 
received a majority only, they would have rallied and sustained 
those who desired peace and union. One more earnest appeal was 
made to the Republicans. General Cameron answered it by moving 



220 LIFE OF JEFFERSON DAVIS. 

a reconsideration. His motion came up on the 18th, when he voted 
acainst his own motion. It was carried, however, over the votes 
of the Kepublicans, although Wigfall voted with them. When it 
was again up on the second of March, 1861, the Southern States 
were nearly all gone. Even then it was lost by one vote only. 
But on that occasion all the Democrats were for, and all the Re- 
publicans against it. The truth is, there was nothing but sneers 
and skepticism from the Republicans at any settlement. They 
broke down every proposition. They took the elements of con- 
ciliation out of the Peace Convention before it assembled. Sena- 
tors Harlan and Chandler were especially active in preparing that 
convention for a failure. If every Southern man and every 
Northern Democrat had voted for this proposition, it would have 
required some nine Republicans for the requisite two-thirds. 
Where were they? Dreaming with Mr. Seward of a sixty days' 
struggle, or arranging for the division of the patronage of adminis- 
tration. The only Southern Senators who seemed against any 
settlement were Iverson and Wigfall; that no man will challenge 
if he will refer to the Glohe (1st part, Thirty-fifth Congress, page 
270) for the testimony of Douglas and Pugh, and to Mr. Bigler's 
Bucks County speech, September 17, 1863. The latter knew it to 
be true when he said that — 

" When the struggle was at its height in Greorgia, between Robert 
Toombs for secession, and A. H. Stephens against it, had those 
men in the Committee of Thirteen, who are now so blameless in 
their own estimation, given us their votes, or even three of them, 
Stephens would have defeated Toombs, and secession would have 
been prostrated. I heard Mr. Toombs say to Mr. Douglas that 
the result in Georgia was staked on the action of the Committee 
of Thirteen. If it accepted the Crittenden proposition, Stephens 
would defeat him; if not, he would carry the State out by 40,000 
majority. The three votes from the Republican side would have 
carried it at any time ; but union and peace in the balance against 
the Chicago platform were sure to be found wanting." 



SOUTH CAROLINA SECEDES. 221 

If other testimony were wanting, I would ask a suspension of 
judgment until those facts, better known to Southern men, trans- 
pire. The intercourse about to be reestablished between the 
sections will cumulate the proof. It will also bring to the light 
many facts showing that, while President Buchanan was working 
for the Peace Conference, while Virginia had been gained to our 
side with her ablest men, there were even then in the Cabinet those 
who not only encouraged revolt, but foiled by letter and speech 
the efforts of the Unionists at "Washington and Richmond. These 
letters and acts are referred to in the recent speech of General 
Blair. They will be, and should be brought into the sunshine, if 
only to vindicate the true Union men of that dark hour, and to 
condemn those who have since made so much pretension with so 
much zealotry, coupled with unexampled cruelty and tyranny. 

In the light of subsequent events that policy was developed. 
It was the destruction of slavery at the peril of war and disunion ; 
or, as Senator Douglas expressed it, " a disruption of the Union, 
believing it would draw after it, as an inevitable consequence, civil 
war, servile insurrections, and finally the utter extermination of 
slavery in all the Southern States." 

While these fruitless efforts at compromise were in progress 
at Washington, public sentiment in the South, especially in 
the Cotton States, was rapidly reaching a point of exasperation, 
which refused to brook longer delay in the vain hope of justice 
from the exultant and unyielding North. In several of the 
States, so excited was popular feeling, that within a few weeks 
what was originally merely a purpose of resistance, intensified 
into a determination of absolute national independence and 
jxTmanent separation. South Carolina, on the 20th December, 
18(j0, adopted her ordinance of secession, and thus bravely 
gave the example, which other States speedily followed. 

The work of secession, so thoroughly started by the opening 



222 LIFE OF JEFFERSON DAVIS. 

of the new year, was not accomplished without a severe 
.struggle in several of the Cotton States, in which contest, 
those who advocated unconditional separation were greatly 
assisted by the defiant position of the Republican party. The 
more sagacious Southern leaders foresaw the inevitable failure 
of the movement of separation, unless it should be sustained 
by an extensive cooperation among the Southern States. To 
secure the united action of the Cotton States, at least, was 
essential to give the movement strength and dignity. Mr. 
Davis, who advocated secession only in the event of the failure 
to obtain reasonable guarantees, and had never proposed to 
abandon the Union without an effort to save it, was a most 
earnest and influential advocate of the policy of cooperation. 
Of great historical importance is the fact, that the counsels of 
himself and those who acted with him, were adopted in pref- 
erence to a more hasty policy, which, however ample the 
provocation to immediate action, would have deprived the 
South of the potent justification of having forborne until 
"endurance ceased to be a virtue." 

In a letter written a few days after the election of Mr. 
Lincoln, he thus expressed his views : 

"Warren County, Miss., Nov. 10, 1860. 

Hon. E.. B. Rhett, Jr. — Dear Sir: I had the honor to receive, 
last night, yours of the 27th ult., and hasten to reply to the in- 
quiries propounded. Reports of the election leave little doubt 
that the event you anticipated has occurred, that electors have 
been chosen, securing the election of Lincoln, and I ■will answer 
on that supposition. 

My home is so isolated that I have had no intercourse with 
those who might have aided me in forming an opinion as to the 
effect produced on the mind of our people by the result of the 



LETTER TO R. B. RIIETT. 223 

recent election, and the impressions which I communicate are 
founded upon antecedent expressions. 

1. I doubt not that the Governor of Mississippi has convoked 
the Legislature to assemble within the present month, to decide 
upon the course which the State should adopt in the present emer- 
gency. Whether the Legislature will direct the call of a conven- 
tion of the State, or appoint delegates to a convention of such 
Southern States as may be willing to consult together for the 
adoption of a Southern plan of action, is doubtful. 

2. If a convention of the State were assembled, the proposition 
to secede from the Union, independently of support from neigh- 
boring States, would probably fail. 

3. If South Carolina should first secede, and she alone should 
take such action, the position of Mississippi would not probably 
be changed by that fact. A powerful obstacle to the separate 
action of Mississippi is the want of a port; from which follows 
the consequence that her trade, being still conducted through the 
ports of the Union, her revenue would be diverted from her own 
support to that of a foreign government; and being geographi- 
cally unconnected with South Carolina, an alliance with her would 
not vary that state of the case. [/Sic.] 

4. The propriety of separate secession by South Carolina de- 
pends so much upon collateral questions that I find it diflicult to 
respond to your last inquiry, for the want of knowledge which 
would enable me to estimate the value of the elements involved 
in the issue, though exterior to your State. Georgia is necessary 
to connect you with Alabama, and thus to make eiFectual the co- 
operation of Mississippi. If Georgia would be lost by immediate 
action, but could be gained by delay, it seems clear to me that 
you should wait. If the secession of South Carolina should be 
followed by an attempt to coerce her back into the Union, that act 
of usurpation, folly, and wickedness would enlist every true South- 
ern man for her defense. If it were attempted to blockade her 



224 LIFE OF JEFFERSON DAVIS. 

ports and destroy her trade, a like result would be produced, and 
the commercial world would probably be added to her allies. It 
is probable that neither of those measures would be adopted by 
any administration, but that Federal ships would be sent to col- 
lect the duties on imports outside of the bar ; that the commer- 
cial nations would feel little interest in that; and the Southern 
States would have little power to counteract it. 

The planting States have a common interest of such magnitude, 
that their union, sooner or later, for the protection of that interest, 
is certain. United they will have ample power for their own pro- 
tection, and their exports will make for them allies of all com- 
mercial and manufacturing powers. 

The new States have a heterogeneous population, and will be 
slower and less unanimous than those in which there is less of 
the Northern element in the body politic, but interest controls 
the policy of States, and finally all the planting communities must 
reach the same conclusion. My opijiion ts, therefore, as it has been, 
in favor of seeking to bring those States into cooperation before ask- 
ing for a popular decision upon a new policy and relation to the 
nations of the earth. If South Carolina should resolve to secede 
before that cooperation can be obtained, to go out leaving Georgia, 
and Alabama, and Louisiana in the Union, and without any reason 
to suppose they will follow her, there appears to me to be no 
advantage in waiting until the Government has passed into hostile 
hands, and men have become familiarized to that injurious and 
offensive perversion of the General Government from the ends for 
which it was established. I have written with the freedom and 
carelessness of private correspondence, and regret that I could 
not give more precise information. 

Very respectfully, yours, etc., 

JEFFERSON DAVIS. 

Mr. Davis remained in the Senate, a friend of peace, and, 



FARinVET.T. TO THE SENATE. 225 

until the last moment, laboring for adjustment, when he 
received the summons of Mississippi, forbidding the longer 
exercise of the trust which she had given to his keeping. 
Mississippi seceded on the 9th of January, 1861. Mr. Davis, 
receiving formal announcement of the event, withdrew on the 
21st, after pronouncing an impressive valedictory to the Sen- 
ate. Its dignified, courteous, and statesman-like character has 
challenged the unqualified eulogy of the enlightened world. 

SPEECH OF HON. JEFFERSON DAVIS, OX WITHDRAWING 
FROM THE U. S. SENATE. JAN. 21, 1861. 

Mr. Davis. I rise, Mr. President, for the purpose of announc- 
ing to the Senate that I have satisfactory evidence that the State 
of Mississippi, by a solemn ordinance of her people, in conveutioa 
assembled, has declared her separation from the United States. 
Under these circumstances, of course, my functions are terminated 
here. It has seemed to me proper, however, that I should appear 
in the Senate to announce that fact to my associates, and I will say 
but very little more. The occasion does not invite me to go into 
argument; and my physical condition would not permit me to do 
so, if otherwise; and yet it seems to become me to say something 
on the part of a State I here represent, on an occasion so solemn 
as this. 

It is known to Senators who have served with me here, that I 
have, for many years, advocated, as an essential attribute of State 
sovereignty, the right of a State to secede from the Union. There- 
fore, if I had not believed there was justifiable cause; if I had 
thought that Mississippi was acting without sufficient provocation, 
or without an existing necessity, I should still, under my theory 
of the Government, because of my allegiance to the State of which 
I am a citizen, have been bound by her action. I, however, may 
be permitted to say that I do think she has justifiable cause, and I 
15 



226 LIFE OF JEFFERSON DAVIS. 

approve of h.er act. I conferred with her people before that act 
was taken, counseled them then that if the state of things which 
they apprehended should exist when the convention met, they 
should take the action which they have now adopted. 

I hope none who hear me will confound this expression of mine 
with the advocacy of the right of a State to remain in the Union, 
and to disregard its constitutional obligations by the nullification 
of the law. Such is not my theory. Nullification and secession, 
so often confounded, are, indeed, antagonistic principles. Nullifi- 
cation is a remedy which it is sought to apply within the Union, 
and against the agent of the States. It is only to be justified 
when the agent has violated his constitutional obligations, and a 
State, assuming to judge for itself, denies the right of the agent 
thus to act, and appeals to the other States of the Union for a 
decision ; but when the States themselves, and when the people 
of the States, have so acted as to convince us that they will not 
regard our constitutional rights, then, and then for the first time, 
arises the doctrine of secession in its practical application. 

A great man, who now reposes with his fathers, and who has 
often been arraigned for a want of fealty to the Union, advocated 
the doctrine of nullification because it preserved the Union. It 
was because of his deep-seated attachment to the Union — his de- 
termination to find some remedy for existing ills short of a sever- 
ance of the ties which bound South Carolina to the other States, 
that Mr. Calhoun advocated the doctrine of nullification, which he 
proclaimed to be peaceful — to be within the limits of State power, 
not to disturb the Union, but only to be a means of bringing the 
agent before the tribunal of the States for their judgment. 

Secession belongs to a diff'erent class of remedies. It is to be 
justified upon the basis that'the States are sovereign. There was 
a time when none denied it. I hope the time may come again, 
when a better comprehension of the theory of our Government, 
and the inalienable rights of the people of the States, will prevent 



FAUKWKLL TO THE SENATE. 227 

any oik; I'roiii deiiyiiij^ that eacli State is a hovereij^ii, aii<J thus may 
reclaim the grauta which it has made to any agent whomboever. 

I, therefore, say I concur in the action of the people of MihssiH- 
eippi, believing it to be necesHary and pr(jper, and hliould liave 
been Ixiund by their action if niy bclii-f had been otherwiHC ; and 
thirt brings me to the important point which I wish, on this last 
occaHion, to present to the Senate. It in by this confounding of 
nullification and seceHsion, that the name of a great man, whose 
ashcH now mingle with his mother earth, has been evoked to jus- 
tify coercion against a seceded State. The phrase, " to execute the 
laws," was au expression which General Jackson applied to the 
case of a State refusing to obey the laws while yet a member of 
the Union. That is not the case which is n<jw presented. The 
laws are to be executed over the United States, and upon the 
people of the United States. They have no relation to any for- 
eign country. It is a perversion of terms — at least it is a great 
misapprehension of the case — which cites that expression for ap- 
plication to a State which has withdrawn from the Unioa. You 
may make war on a foreign State. If it be the purpose of gen- 
tlemen, they may make war against a State wliich has withdrawn 
from the Union ; but there are no laws of the United States to be 
executed within the limits of a seceded State. A State, finding 
herself in the condition in which Mississippi has judged she is — 
in which her safety requires that she should provide for the main- 
tenance of her rights out of the Union — surrenders all the bene- 
fits (and they are known to be mariyj, deprives herself of the 
advantages (and they are known to be great^, severs all the ties 
of affection (and they are close and enduring), which have bound 
her to the Union ; and thus divesting herself of every benefit — 
taking upon herself every burden — she claims to be exempt from 
any power to execute the laws of the United States within her 
limits. 

I well remember au occa.'^iou when Massachusetts was arraigned 



228 LIFE OF JEFFERSON DAVIS. 

before the bar of the Senate, and when the doctrine of coercion 
was rife, and to be applied against her, because of the rescue of a 
fugitive slave in Boston. My opinion then was the same that it 
is now. Not in a spirit of egotism, but to show that I am not 
influenced, in my opinion, because the case is my own, I refer to 
that time and that occasion, as containing the opinion which I 
then entertained, and on which my present conduct is based. I 
then said that if Massachusetts, following her through a stated 
line of conduct, choose to take the last step which separates her 
from the Union, it is her right to go, and I will neither vote one 
dollar nor one man to coerce her back; but will say to her, God 
speed, in memory of the kind associations which once existed be- 
tween her and the other States. 

It has been a conviction of pressing necessity — it has been a 
belief that we are to be deprived, in the Union, of the rights which 
our fathers bequeathed to us — which has brought Mississippi into 
her present decision. She has heard proclaimed the theory that 
all men are created free and equal, and this made the basis of an 
attack upon her social institutions; and the sacred Declaration of 
Independence has been invoked to maintain the position of the 
equality of the races. The Declaration of Independence is to be 
construed by the circumstances and purposes for which it was made. 
The communities were declaring their independence; the people of 
those communities were asserting that no man was born, to use the 
language of Mr. JeiFerson, booted and spurred, to ride over the 
rest of mankind ; that men wei'c created equal — meaning the men 
of the political community; that there was no divine right to rule; 
that no man inherited the right to govern ; that there were no 
classes by which power and place descended to families ; but that 
all stations were equally within the grasp of each member of the 
body politic. These were the great principles they anaounced; 
these were the purposes for which they made their declaration ; 
these were the ends to which their enunciation was directed. They 



FAKEWELL TO THE SENATE. 229 

liave no reference to the slave; else, how happened it, that, among 
the items of arraignment against George III, was, that he endeav- 
ored to do just what the North has been endeavoring of late to do, 
to stir up insurrection among our slaves. Had the Declaration 
announced that the negroes were free and equal, how was the 
prince to be arraigned for raising up insurrection among them? 
And how was this to be enumerated among the high crimes which 
caused the colonies to sever their connection with the mother 
country? When our Constitution was formed, the same idea was 
rendered more palpable ; for there we find provision made for that 
very class of persons as property ; they were not put upon the foot- 
ing of equality with white men — not even upon that of paupers 
and convicts; but, so far as representation was concerned, were 
discriminated against as a lower caste, only to be represented in 
the numerical proportion of three-fifths. 

Then, Senators, we recur to the compact which binds us to- 
gether; we recur to the principles upon which our Government 
was founded ; and when you deny them, and when you deny to us 
the right to withdraw from a government, which, thus perverted, 
threatens to be destructive of our rights, we but tread in the path 
of our fathers when we proclaim our independence, and take the 
hazard. This is done, not in hostility to others — not to injure any 
section of the country — not even for our own pecuniary benefit; 
but from the high and solemn motive of defending and protecting 
the rights we inherited, and which it is our duty to transmit un- 
shorn to our children. 

I find in myself, perhaps, a type of the general feeling of my 
constituents toward yours. I am sure I feel no hostility toward 
you. Senators from the North. I am sure there is not one of you, 
whatever sharp discussion there may have been between us, to whom 
I can not now say, in the presence of my God, I wish you well ; 
and such, I am sure, is the feeling of the people whom I repre- 
sent toward those whom you represent. I, therefore, feel that I 



230 LIFE OF JEFFERSON DAVIS. 

but express their desire, when I say I hope, and they hope, for 
peaceable relations with you, though we must part. They may be 
mutually beneficial to us in the future, as they have been in the 
past, if you so will it. The reverse may bring disaster on every 
portion of the country ; and if you will have it thus, we will in- 
voke the God of our fathers, who delivered them from the power 
of the lion, to protect us from the ravages of the bear; and thus, 
putting our trust in God, and in our firm hearts and strong arms, 
we will vindicate the right as best we may. 

In the course of my service here, associated, at different times, 
with a great variety of Senators, I see now around me some with 
whom I have served long; there have been points of collision, but 
whatever of offense there has been to me, I leave here — I carry 
with me no hostile remembrance. Whatever oflFense I have given, 
which has not been redressed, or for which satisfaction has not 
been demanded, I have, Senators, in this hour of our parting, to 
ofi"er you my apology for any pain which, in the heat of discussion, 
I have inflicted. I go hence unincumbered of the remembrance 
of any injury received, and having discharged the duty of making 
the only reparation in my power for any injury offered. 

Mr. President and Senators, having made the announcement 
which the occasion seemed to me to require, it only remains for 
me to bid you a final adieu. 

A frequent acensation alleged against Mr. Davis and other 
Southern Senators who adopted his course of a formal with- 
drawal from the Senate, is that they thus gave the Republican 
]>arty control of the Senate, and voluntarily surrendered its 
])Ower to the hostile administration soon to be inaugurated. 
]t is a sufficient answer to this statement that the mere admis- 
sion that the administration was hostile to Southern interests, and 
menacing to Southern safety and honor, or even that the South 



UIS WITIIDKAWAL JUSTIPUED. 231 

lind good reason for so believing, is to fix the rcsponsiljility of 
disunion elsewhere than upon the Soutliern leaders. 

To have retained his seat under such circumstances would 
have been altogether inconsistent with Mr. Davis' conception 
of tlio nature of the position. He was committed, by public 
announcement, to a very different view of the obligations of 
the representative of a State in the Federal Congress. Hold- 
ing it to be a point of honor not to occupy such a relation, 
with the object of hostility to the Government, years ago lie 
announced, in connection with an allusion to a calumnious 
insinuation, that he would answer in monosyllables the man 
who would charge him with being a disi|pionist. 

Entertaining his view of the character of the American 
political system, of which the foundation was the doctrine of a 
paramount allegiance of the citizen to his State, when Missis- 
sippi withdrew from the Union, he had no other alternative than 
to vacate the position which he held by her commission, and which 
wa.s, at once, the sign of the equality and sovereignty of the 
States, and of the adherence of each to the league by which she 
was united to the others. To represent a State adhering to tlie 
Union, and ase the position to make war upon the Govern- 
ment, or to retain a seat in Congress when the State had, by 
its sovereign fiat, revoked its grants, and withdrawn from tlie 
league, were offenses belonging to the last stage of decadence 
in political morality and personal honor. 

Retiring from the Senate, Mr. Davis returned, Avithin a few 
days thereaflor, to his residence in Mississippi. The State was 
not unmindful of the necessity of preparations for a war which, 
though not deemed inevitable, was yet extremely probable 
Mr. Davis was honored by an appointment to the command of 
the militia of the State, with the rank of Major-Gencral. His 



232 LIFE OF JEFFERSON DAVIS. 

retirement upon his plantation thus jjromised to be of short 
duration, but before he could assume the responsibilities which 
Mississippi, in this reiteration of her confidence, had conferred, 
the voice of millions invoked his guidance of their destinies in 
the hazardous experiment of independent national existence. 

Secession, in its rapid progress, confirmed the threadbare 
theory of the progressive tendency of revolutionary move- 
ments. Acquiring impetus as it advanced, before the first 
of February, 1861, six States had declared themselves no 
longer members of the Union.* Representatives from these 
States met, in convention, at Montgomery, Alabama, on 4th 
February, 1861, for the purpose of forming a provisional gov- 
ernment. On the 8th February, this body adopted a constitu- 
tion, and proclaimed an addition to the family of nations, under 
the title of The Confederate States of America. 

The next day the Congress of the Confederate States an- 
nounced its choice of the two highest constitutional officers of 
the new Government : 

President, Jefferson Davis, of Mississippi. 
Vice-President, Alexander H. Stephens, of Georgia. 

, * Acts of secession were adopted by the various States as follows : 
South Carolina, December 20, 1860. 
Florida, January 7, 1861. 
Mississippi, January 9, 1861. 
Alabama, January 11, 1861. 
Georgia, January 20, 1861. 
Louisiana, January 26, 1861. 
Texas, February 1, 1861. 



CONFEDERACY ESTABLLSHED. 233 



CHAPTER VIII. 

THE CONFEDERACY ESTABLISHED AND IN OPERATION — CALMNESS AND MODERA- 
TION OF THE SOUTH — THE MONTGOMERY CONSTITUTION — THE IMPROVEMENTS 
UPON THE FEDERAL INSTRUMENT — POPULAR DELIGHT AT THE SELECTION OF 
MR. DAVIS AS PRESIDENT — MOTIVES OF HIS ACCEPTANCE — HIS PREFERENCE 

FOR THE ARMY DAVIS THE SYMBOL OK SOLTHEKX CHARACTER AND HOPES 

ON HIS WAV TO MONTGOMEKV A CONTRAST INAUGURATION AND INAUGURAL 

ADDRESS — THE CONFEDERATE CAIUNET TOOJIBS WALKER MEMJIINGER 

BENJAillN — MALLORY — REAGAN — HISTORICAL POSITION OF PRESIDENT DAVIS 
— THE TWO POWERS — EXTREME DEMOCRACY OF THE NORTH — NOBLE IDEAL 
OF REPUBLICANISM CHERISHED BY THE SOUTH — DAVIs' REPRESENTATIVE 
QUALITIES AND DISTINGUISHED SERVICES — THE HISTORIC REPRESENTATIVE OF 
THE CONFEDERATE CAUSE EARLY HISTORY OF THE GOVERNMENT AT MONT- 
GOMERY CONFIDENCE IN PRESIDENT DAVIS UNLLMITED PRESIDENT DAVIs' 

ADMINISTRATIVE CAPACITY — HIS MILITARY ADMINISTRATION — THE CONFED- 
ERATE ARMY — WEST POINT — NEGOTIATIONS FOR SURRENDER OF FORTS SUM- 
TER AND PICKENS — MR. BUCHANAN's PITIABLE POLICY ^THE ISSUE OF PEACE 

OR WAR PERFIDIOUS COURSE OF THE LINCOLN ADMINISTRATION — MR. SE- 

WARd's DALLIANCE WITH THE CONFEDERATE COMMISSIONERS — HIS DECEP- 
TIONS — THE EXPEDITION TO PROVISION THE GARRISON OF SUMTER — REDUC- 
TION OF THE FORT — WAR — GUILT OF THE NORTH — ITS RESPONSIBILITY FOR 
THE WAR. 

THUS, without the disorder of anarchy, and without the 
violence of armed conflict, a new and imposing structure 
of state was speedily erected from the separated fragments. 
Tlie event was indeed unparalleled, and, to the mind of the 
world, unused to the novel spectacle of the dismemberment of 
an empire, except as the consummation of years of bloodshed, 
its philosophy was difficult of comprehension. 



234 LIFE OF JEFFERSON DAVIS. 

The sixth of November, 1860, was the ominous day upon 
which the revolution, so long threatened, and so often deferred 
by Southern concession and sacrifice, was inaugurated. Upon 
that day, with the election of Abraham Lincoln, was opened a 
new volume in American history. . Upon that day, the Amer- 
ican Union, "formed to establish justice," resting upon the 
])rinciple of equality as its foundation-stone, passed under the 
control of an arrogant majority, pledged to its perversion, to 
the oppression of nearly one-half its members. From the pro- 
fession of fraternity, and the outward pretense of comity, it 
passed under the domination of principles whose origin was 
discord and whose logical result was dissolution. 

The answer of those who were threatened most seriously by 
this subversion of the Government of their fathers, though 
well considered, neither debated with passion, nor concluded 
with rashness, was worthy of men — the descendants of the 
authors of American Independence, and educated in that po- 
litical school which teaches the assertion of the rights of the 
few against the power of the many. A manly resistance, such 
as only threatened degradation inspires in the bosoms of free- 
men, which the insolence of faction had long defied and a 
conscious physical superiority had haughtily derided, was, at 
length, thoroughly aroused. Within a few months, the revo- 
lutionary movement, begun in November, and pressed, by its 
authors, to its inevitable consequences, had reached the im- 
portant result of a withdrawal of nearly one-fourth of the States 
constituting the American Union. 

The new government, in the incidents attending its con- 
struction and setting in operation, fully vindicated the earnest 
and conscientious convictions of the people who hud called it 
into existence. The absence of tumult and of all passionate 



MODERATION OF THE SOUTH. 233 

display, at ^rontgonioiy, was in marked contrast "witli the in- 
decent exultation witnessed at AVashington from the adher- 
ents of the incoming administration. The calmness, moder- 
ation, and evident earnestness of purpose which prevailed at 
the South, and was thus manifested by those who were in- 
trusted with the framing of the new government, impressed 
the world to an extent that prepared it to entertain a sympa- 
thy for the Southern cause not to have been expected from 
the prevalent, though erroneous, impressions of foreigners re- 
specting the merits of the sectional quarrel in America. 

That secession was not a revolutionary movement, but 
merely the necessary defense of a people threatened with ma- 
terial ruin and political degradation, by a revolution which 
had already been consummated, was amply demonstrated by its 
immediate consequences. The Confederate leaders, at Mont- 
gomery, exhibited an almost religious veneration for the spirit, 
forms, and associations of the government which they had 
abandoned. The strict adherence of the Montgomery Con- 
stitution to the features of the Federal instrument, indicates 
the absurdity of the impression that it was a proclamation of 
revolution ; and the circumstances of its adoption are totally 
inconsistent with a correct conception of the conduct of an in- 
surgent body. 

It was a signal improvement upon the original American 
Constitution, and the few alterations made were commended 
by enlightened and conservative intellects every-where, as 
necessary changes in the perfection of the American polity. 
""J'he object sought, and successfully consummated, was to em- 
l)ody every valuable principle of the old Constitution with cer- 
tain remedial provisions for the correction of obvious evils, 
which experience had fully indicate. Among these changes, 



236 LIFE OF JEFFERSON DAVIS. 

which were universally recognized as of the utmost value, 
were provisions making the Presidential term six years, in- 
stead of four, as under the old system, and precluding reelec- 
tion ; permitting cabinet ministers to participate in the de- 
bates of Congress, and the virtual abolition of the pernicious 
system of removing all officials, of whatever degree, upon each 
advent of a new administration. The Confederate Constitu- 
tion positively prohibited the African slave-trade, which the 
Federal Constitution had failed to do. A striking provision, 
and one never before avowed in any similar instrument, was 
the prohibition of duties for the purpose of protection. There 
was, indeed, nothing whatever in the Montgomery instrument 
which a candid and enlightened public sentiment, even at the 
North, might not have fully approved, excepting the ample 
and avowed protection to property in slaves. This, it was 
claimed, was not an alteration of the old Constitution, but 
merely a formal interpretation of its obvious purpose. 

In no respect was the action of the new Confederacy deemed 
more fortunate than in the selection of its leader. That, in the 
choice of Mr. Davis as President, the Congress only responded 
to the preconceived choice of the Southern people, was attested 
by the spontaneous acclamation with which the announcement 
was received. Even those who had been in doubt as to the 
proper personage to endow with the po^wers and responsibili- 
ties of a position, at once the most onerous, and, looking to 
the contingencies of the early future, a long and sanguinary 
war, with the chances of a disastrous termination, the most 
precarious of modern times, yielded hearty recognition of the 
wise selection of the Congress. 

The responsibilities and difficulties of the trust, did not 
suggest to Mr. Davis hesitation as to its acceptance. If this, 



PRE-EMINENT FITNESS OF DAVIS. 237 

the highest distinction which public appreciation had yet ten- 
dered him should prove a forlorn hope, his sense of duty would 
no more permit hesitation than in the assumption of more 
cheaply-earned honors. Entertaining no purpose of inglorious 
ease, amid the trials and perils, which, with a prevision, rare, 
indeed, at that period, he already anticipated, his own prefer- 
rence was for a different station of public service. Months sub- 
sequently he indicated the post of danger as the post of duty to 
which he had aspired in that gigantic struggle through which 
his country must pass to the assurance of independence. " I 
then imagined," said he, " that it might be my fortune again to 
lead Mississippians in the field, and to be with them where dan- 
ger was to be braved and glory won. I thought to find that 
place which I believed to be suited to my capacity — that of 
an officer in the service of the State of Mississippi."* 

Of the public conviction as to his preeminent fitness, there 
could not be a question. His character, his abilities, his 
military education and experience, had long been recognized 
throughout the Union, and his exalted reputation was a source 
of just pride to the South. No Southern statesman presented 
so admirable a combination of purity, dignity, firmneas, devo- 
tion, and skill — qualities for which there is an inexorable de- 
mand in revolutionary periods. William Tell, with his cross- 
bow and apple, to the rustic simplicity of the Swiss, was the 
very embodiment of the genius of liberty. Far beyond any 
influence of fiction was the magic potency of the red shirt and 
felt hat of Garibaldi to imaginative Italy; and Washington, as 
Lamartine said, with his sword and the law, was the symbol 
standing erect at the cradle of American liberty. Equally with 

* Extract from President Davis' address before the Mississippi Legis- 
lature, Docctnber, 18G2. 



238 LIFE OF JEFFERSON DAVIS. 

the greatest of these prototypes was Jefferson Davis, the symbol 
of the noble aspirations of the proud, impulsive, chivalrous race 
which confided to him the conduct of its destinies through the 
wilderness of revolution to the goal of independence and na- 
tionality beyond. He did not seek the position; had not 
been conspicuous in flaming exhortations to popular assemblies ; 
had not employed any of the arts of the demagogue — of flattery 
or cajolery of the masses into a false and extravagant estimate 
of his qualities; but before the world were his character, fame, 
and services, in unadorned simplicity, painted only in the severe 
colors of truth. It was the tribute to virtue, most to be valued 
when unsought; the award of honor, only appropriate when 
merited and becomingly worn. 

Mr. Davis' assumption of his trust was characterized by a 
dignity, absence of ostentation, and profound appreciation of 
its delicate nature, in the highest degree imposing. From it 
was augured such a worthy administration of public affairs as 
would secure for the Confederacy, if permitted the blessings of 
peace, an enviable position among the nations of the earth. 
But his first announcement of its policy indicated his appre- 
ciation of the danger of war, in which its utmost exertions 
would be required to vindicate the independence which the 
States had declared. To the heroic maintenance of that posi- 
tion he committed himself by the most emphatic avowals; and 
in whatever contingency, whether of peace or war, his purpose 
was one of deathless resistence to any denial of the right of 
self-government, which his fellow-citizens had exercised. 

Informed of his election, Mr. Davis immediately left his 
home for the seat of government. Along the route to Mont- 
gomery he was greeted, by the people, with every possible 
demonstration of patriotic enthusiasm and personal regard. 



ARRIVES AT MONTGOMERY. 239 

In response to these denionstrations, he at several points ad- 
dressed the people in terms of characteristic eloquence, dignity 
and moderation. 

' Proud, indeed, must ever be, to the Southern people, the 
contrast of the noble bearing of their chosen ruler with the 
display of vulgarity attending the journey of Mr. Lincoln from 
Springfield to Washington. These two men — the one wdth the 
calm dignity of the statesman and the polished bearing of the 
gentleman; the other with coarse jests and buifoonery, upon 
the eve of the most important event in their individual history, 
and pregnant with significance to millions — Avere no bad indices 
of the civilization of their respective sections. 

Arriving in Montgomery, Mr. Davis was inaugurated on 
the 18th February, with a simplicity of ceremony, an absence 
of personal inflation, and a degree of popular enthusiasm, 
which well befitted the formal assertion of true republican 
liberty, equally protected against the license of mobs and. the 
usurpations of tyrants. The ceremonies of inauguration were 
little more than the taking of the oath of office and the deliv- 
ery of the inaugural address. The inaugural of President 
Davis is unquestionably of the highest order of state papers. 
As a model of composition, it is rarely equaled ; and its 
statement of the position of the South, the grievances which 
had led to the assumption of that position, her hopes, aspira- 
tions, and purposes, has never been surpassed in power and 
perspicuity, by any similar document. 



240 LIFE OF JEFFEESON DAVIS. 



INAUGURAL ADDRESS OF PRESIDENT DAVIS, DELIVERED AT 
THE CAPITOL, MONDAY, FEB. 18, 1861. 

Gentlemen of the Congress of the Confederate States of America ; 
Friends and Fellow-Citizens : 

Called to the difficult and responsible station of Chief Executive 
of the Provisional Government which you have instituted, I ap- 
proach the discharge of the duties assigned to me with an humble 
distrust of my abilities, but with a sustaining confidence in the 
wisdom of those who are to guide and aid me in the administration 
of public affairs, and an abiding faith in the virtue and patriotism 
of the people. 

Looking forward to the speedy establishment of a permanent 
government to take the place of this, and which, by its greater 
moral and physical power, will be better able to combat with the 
many difficulties which arise from the conflicting interests of sep- 
arate nations, I enter upon the duties of the office, to which I have 
been chosen, with the hope that the beginning of our career, as a 
Confederacy, may not be obstructed by hostile opposition to our 
enjoyment of the separate existence and independence which we 
have asserted, and, with the blessing of Providence, intend to 
maintain. Our present condition, achieved in a manner unprece- 
dented in the history of nations, illustrates the American idea that 
governments rest upon the consent of the governed, and that it is 
the right of the people to alter or abolish governments whenever they 
become destructive of the ends for which they were established. 

The declared purpose of the compact of union from which we 
have withdi'awn, was "to establish justice, insure domestic tran- 
quillity, provide for the common defense, promote the general 
welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and pos- 
terity;" and when, in the judgment of the sovereign States now 
composing this Confederacy, it had been perverted from the pur- 



INAUGUEAL ADDRESS. 241 

poses for •wliich it was ordained, and had ceased to answer the ends 
for which it was established, a peaceful appeal to the ballot-box, 
declared, that so far as they were concerned, the government 
created by that compact should cease to exist. In this they 
merely asserted a right which the Declaration of Independence of 
1776 had defined to be inalienable. Of the time and occasion for 
its exercise, they, as sovereigns, were the final judges, each for 
itself. The impartial and enlightened verdict of mankind will 
vindicate the rectitude of our conduct, and He, who knows the 
hearts of men, will judge of the sincerity with which we labored 
to preserve the government of our fathers in its spirit. The right 
solemnly proclaimed at the birth of the States, and which has been 
affirmed and re-affirmed in the bills of rights of States subsequently 
admitted into the Union of 1789, undeniably recognizes in the 
people the power to resume the authority delegated for the pur- 
poses of government. Thus the sovereign States, here represented, 
proceeded to form this Confederacy, and it is by abuse of language 
that their act has been denominated a revolution. They formed a 
new alliance, but within each State its government has remained, 
and the rights of person and property have not been disturbed. 
The agent, through whom they communicated with foreign nations, 
is changed; but this does not necessarily interrupt their interna- 
tional relations. 

Sustained by the consciousness that the transition from the for- 
mer Union to the present Confederacy, has not proceeded from a 
disregard on our part of just obligations, or any failure to perform 
any constitutional duty; moved by no interest or passion to invade 
the rights of others; anxious to cultivate peace and commerce with 
all nations, if we may not hope to avoid war, we may at least ex- 
pect that posterity will acquit us of having needlessly engaged in 
it. Doubly justified by the absence of wrong on our part, and by 
wanton aggression on the part of others, there can be no cause to 
doubt that the courage and patriotism of the people of the Coufed- 
16 



242 LIFE OF JEFFEESON DAVIS. 

erate States will be found equal to any measures of defense whicli 
honor and security may require. 

An agricultural people, whose chief interest is the export of a 
commodity required in every manufacturing country, our true 
policy is peace and the freest trade which our necessities will per- 
mit. It is alike our interest, and that of all those to whom we 
would sell and from whom we would buy, that there should be the 
fewest practicable restrictions upon the interchange of commodities. 
There can be but little rivalry between ours and any manufacturing 
or navigating community, such as the North-eastern States of the 
American Union. It must follow, therefore, that a mutual interest 
would invite good will and kind offices. If, however, passion or 
the lust of dominion should cloud the judgment or inflame the 
ambition of those States, we must prepare to meet the emergency, 
and to maintain, by the final arbitrament of the sword, the position 
which we have assumed among the nations of the earth. Wc have 
entered upon the career of indej^endence, and it must be inflexibly 
pursued. Through many years of controversy with our late asso- 
ciates, the Northern States, we have vainly endeavored to secure 
tranquillity, and to obtain respect for the rights to which wc were 
entitled. As a necessity, not a choice, we have resorted to the 
remedy of separation ; and henceforth our energies must be directed 
to the conduct of our own aff":iirs, and the perpetuity of the Con- 
federacy which we have formed. If a just perception of mutual 
interest shall permit us peaceably to pursue our separate political 
career, my most earnest desire will have been fulfilled; but if this 
be denied to us, and the integrity of our territory and jurisdic- 
tion be assailed, it will but remain for us, with firm resolve, to 
appeal to arms and invoke the blessings of Providence on a just 
cause. 

As a consequence of our new condition, and with a view to meet 
anticipated wants, it will be necessary to provide for the speedy 
and efficient organization of branches of the Executive Depart- 



INAUGURAL ADDRESS. 243 

ment, having special charge of foreign intercourse, finance, military 
affairs, and the postal service. 

For purposes of defense, the Confederate States may, under 
ordinary circumstances, rely mainly upon the militia; but it is 
deemed advisable, in the present condition of affairs, that there 
should be a well-instructed and disciplined army, more numerous 
than would usually be required on a peace establishment. I also 
suggest that, for the protection of our harbors and commerce on 
the high seas, a navy adapted to those objects will be required. 
These necessities have doubtless engaged the attention of Congress. 

With a Constitution differing only from that of our fathers, in 
so fiir as it is explanatory of their well-known intent, freed from 
the sectional conflicts which have interfered with the pursuit of 
the general welfare, it is not unreasonable to expect that States, 
from which we have recently parted, may seek to unite their for- 
tunes with ours under the government which we have instituted. 
For this your Constitution makes adequate provision ; but beyond 
this, if I mistake not the judgment and will of the people, a re- 
union with the States from wliich we have separated is neither 
practicable nor desirable. To increase the power, develop the 
resources, and promote the happiness of the Confederacy, it is 
requisite that there should be so much of homogeneity that the 
welfare of every portion shall be the aim of the whole. "Where 
this does not exist, antagonisms are engendered which must and 
should result in separation. 

Actuated solely by the desire to preserve our own rights and 
promote our own welfare, the separation of the Confederate States 
has been marked by no aggression upon others, and followed by no 
domestic convulsion. Our industrial pursuits have received no 
check; the cultivation of our fields has progressed as heretofore; 
and even should we be involved in war, there would be no consid- 
erable diminution in the production of the staples which have 
constituted our exports, and in which the commercial world has 



24-i LIFE OF JEFFERSON DAVIS. 

an interest scarcely less than our own. This common interest of 
the producer and consumer can only be interrupted by an exterior 
force, which should obstruct its transmission to foreign markets — 
a course of conduct which would be as unjust toward us as it would 
be detrimental to manufacturing and commercial interests abroad. 
Should reason guide the action of the Government from which we 
have separated, a policy so detrimental to the civilized world, the 
Northern States included, could not be dictated by even the 
strongest desire to inflict injury upon us; but if otherwise, a ter- 
rible responsibility will rest upon it, and the suffering of millions 
will bear testimony to the folly and wickedness of our aggressors. 
In the meantime, there will remain to us, besides the ordinary 
means before suggested, the well-known resources for retaliation 
upon the commerce of an enemy. 

Esperience in public stations, of subordinate grade to this which 
your kindness has conferred, has taught me that care, and toil, 
and disappointment, are the price of official elevation. You will 
see many errors to forgive, many deficiencies to tolerate, but you 
shall not find in me either a want of zeal or fidelity to the cause 
that is to me highest in hope and of most enduring affection. 
Your generosity has bestowed upon me an undeserved distinction — 
one which I neither sought nor desired. Upon the continuance 
of that sentiment, and upon your wisdom and patriotism, I rely to 
direct and support me in the performance of the duty required at 
my hands. 

We have changed the constituent parts but not the system of 
our Government. The Constitution formed by our fathers is that 
of these Confederate States, in their exposition of it; and, in the 
judicial construction it has received, we have a light which reveals 
its true meaning. 

Thus instructed as to the just interpretation of the instrument, 
and ever remembering that all offices are but trusts held for the 
people, and that delegated powers are to be strictly construed, I 



CABINET APPOINTMENTS. 245 

^vill hope, by due diligciico in the performance of my duties, 
though I may disappoint your expectations, yet to retain, when 
retiring, something of the good-will and confidence which welcomed 
my entrance into office. 

It is joyous, in the midst of perilous times, to look around upon 
a people united in heart, where one purpose of high resolve ani- 
mates and actuates the whole — where the sacrifices to be made are 
not weighed in the balance against honor, and right, and liberty, 
and equality. Obstacles may retard — they can not long prevent — 
the progress of a movement sanctified by its justice, and sustained 
by a virtuous people. Reverently let us invoke the God of our 
fathers to guide and protect us in our efi'orts to perpetuate the 
principles which, by his blessing, they were able to vindicate, 
establish, and transmit to their posterity, and with a continuance 
of His favor, ever gratefully acknowledged, we may hopefully look 
forward to success, to peace, and to prosperity. 

"Working in great harmony between its executive and legis- 
lative departments, the new government, within a very lew 
weeks, presented an extraordinary spectacle of compact organ- 
ization, though in all its parts it was yet purely provisional. 
The Cabinet announced by the President, embraced, for the 
most part, names well known to the country in connection 
with important public trusts. It may not be inappropriate to 
speak briefly here of those who sustained to President Davis 
the close relations of constitutional advisers. 

]Mr. Robert Toombs, the Secretary of State, was indebted 
for his appointment not less to the position of his State, the 
first in rank in the Confederacy, than to the public apprecia- 
tion of his abilities. For several years he had represented 
Georgia in the United States Senate, and in that body his 
reputation was very high as a debater and orator. His ora- 



246 "LIFE OF JEFFERSON DAVIS. 

toiy, however, was a good index of his mind and disposition, 
strong and impassioned, but desultory, vehement and bhister- 
ing. Mr. Toombs had contributed largely to prepare the 
people of Georgia for secession, and his fierce and persistent 
eloquence had greatly accelerated the movement. His ca- 
pacity for agitation and destruction was indeed immeasurably 
superior to any qualification that he may have had for recon- 
structing the broken and scattered fragments of the govern- 
mental column. Restless, arrogant, and intolerant — a born 
destructive and inveterate agitator — Mr. Toombs speedily de- 
monstrated his deficiency in statesmanship. His connection 
with the Confederate Cabinet was of brief duration, and his 
subsequent military service undistinguished. The War De- 
partment — the second post of distinction in the Cabinet — was 
given to Alabama, the second State of the Confederacy, in the per- 
son of Mr. Leroy P. Walker. His connection with the Govern- 
ment, like that of Mr. Toombs, was brief, and wholly unmarked 
by evidence of fitness. Mr. Memminger, of South Carolina, 
the Secretary of the Treasury, made an exceedingly unpopular 
officer, and, as the sequel demonstrated, was incompetent to 
the delicate task of financial management. The Attorney- 
General, Mr. Benjamin, of Louisiana, an eminent lawyer and 
a prominent Senator, was, beyond all question, the ablest of 
]Mr. Davis' Cabinet. He was a man of marvelous intel- 
lectual resources, an orator, a lawyer, and gifted, to an unex- 
ampled degree, in the varied attributes, entering into the 
savior /aire of politics and diplomacy. Mr. Benjamin con- 
tinued the trusted counselor of President Davis during the 
whole period of his authority. Mr. Mallory, of Florida, was 
the Secretary of the Navy — a gentleman of excellent sense, 
unpretending manners, who probably conducted his depart- 



DAVIS' HISTORICAL POSITION. 247 

ment as successfully as was possible, with the limited naval 
resources of the South. The Post-office Department was 
given to Mr. Reagan, of Texas, noted for his fidelity, industry, 
and good sense. 

The Cabinet of President Davis was destined to many changes 
in the progress of subsequent events. Of those originally 
appointed, Messrs. Benjamin, Mallory, and Reagan continued 
their connection with the Confederate Government during the 
entire period of its existence. The brief experiment of Con- 
federate independence was fruitful in illustrations of the im- 
portant truth that political distinction achieved in the ordinary 
struggles of parties, in times of profound peace, is not the sure 
guarantee of the possession of those especial and peculiar quali- 
fications which befit the circumstances of revolution. That 
President Davis, in the selection of some of his advisers, was 
at fault, is to be ascribed rather to the novelty and necessities 
of the public situation than to errors of his judgment. Not 
only must public sentiment respecting men be to some extent 
consulted, but the test of experience must, necessarily, after 
all, determine the question of fitness, where all were untried. 

Jefferson Davis now occupied a position in the highest 
sense historical. It was plain that his name was destined to be 
indelil)ly associated with a series of incidents forming a most 
thrilling and instructive episode in political history. As 
the exponent of a theory of constitutional principles never 
asserted, and unknown save through the inspiration of the 
genius of American Liberty, and as the head of a Govern- 
ment whose birth and destiny must enter conspicuously into 
all future questions of popular government, he stood, in a 
double sense, the central figure in a most striking phase of the 
drama of human progress. Splendid as had been American 



248 LIFE OF JEFFERSON DAVIS. 

history until that day, it was now to contribute, still more 
generously, to the illumination of the great truths, of political 
science. 

The issue was again to be joined between constitutional 
freedom and the odious despotism of an enthroned mob. 
On the one side were asserted the principles of regulated lib- 
erty, without which free government can never be stable — 
order, allegiance, and reverence for law and authority. On 
the other, the wild passions of an infuriated populace, hurling 
down the restraints of law, shattering constitutions; and when 
its frenzied lust had been satiated by the destruction of every 
accessible image of virtue and order, transferring supreme 
power from its polluted grasp to the hands of demagogues — 
capable agents of the depraved will which invests them with 
authority. 

Such y/as really a faithful contrast of the two powers which 
were now inaugurated in what had been the United States. 
It Avas still the old Greek question of the " few or the many," 
the "King Numbers" of the North against the conservatism 
of the South. The old contest Avas to be revived, of Cleon 
and Nicias, in the Athenian Agora, and struggling on through 
the political battle-fields of free governments in all ages. 

It is not an abuse of language to characterize the North as 
realizing the ultra theory of popular government. Its politi- 
cal fabric rests exclusively upon the Utopian conception of an 
intelligence and integrity in the masses which they have never 
been known to possess. Carrying out its pernicious construc- 
tion of the doctrine of the Declaration of Independence, that 
"all men are born free and equal," it professes to hold in 
light esteem the obvious distinctions of race, property, and 
color. Earnestly devoted to the successful illustration of the 



SOUTHERN IDEAL OF REPUBLICANISM. 249 

experiment of Democracy, it has sedulously directed its social 
and political development to the overthrow of caste, the oblit- 
eration of necessary social distinctions, and the practical asser- 
tion of the principle of absolute social, political, and personal 
equality among all men. The election of Lincoln was the 
grand, decisive triumph of these tendencies. He went into 
power as the avowed champion of the interests of the poor 
and laboring classes, which he declared to be in conflict with 
those of the slave-holding aristocrats of the South. Entirely 
undistinguished, with no political record, his popularity was 
based upon his vulgar antecedents — no slight recommendation 
to the populace, gratified at the prospective promotion of one 
of its own class. 

A free society, politically, in which wealth and distinction 
were debarred to none, t he a ristocratic influences of slavery 
were the propitious inducements in the South, to the cultiva- 
tion of that personal dignity which marks the refinement of 
rank, in contradistinction to the vulgar pretensions and affecta- 
tion of a mere aristocracy of money. The patrician society of 
the South sought the noblest type of republicanism — regulated 
liberty — beyond the influence of ignorant and fanatical mobs, 
that perfect order which reposes securely upon virtue, intelli- 
gence, and interested attachment, which all human experience 
teaches are the only reliable safeguards of freedom. 

The noblest achievement of constitutional liberty would 
have been the realization of the Southern ideal of republican- 
ism. The success and beneficence of such a government would 
have been in perfect accord with the philosophy of history. 
Every nation to which has been guaranteed a free constitution 
is indebted for its liberal features to its educated, patrician 
classes, while all the decayed republics of history owed their 



250 LIFE OF JEFFEESOX DAVIS. 

dowufull to the corruption and excesses of an "unbridled 
Democracy." 

Of such a government, Jefferson Davis was the appropriately 
chosen head. An ardent republican, in the truest and noblest 
sense of that abused term, a foe to absolutism and radicalism 
in every shape, he was the noblest product of a conservatism 
in which the elements of distinction were ability, intelligence, 
refinement, and social position. When, added to this repre- 
sentative quality, are considered his splendid career of public 
service, and his varied talents, exemplified on almost every 
field of exertion, it must be conceded that no ruler was ever 
more worthily invited to the head of a nation, and assuredly 
none ever was invited with such unanimity of popular ac- 
claim. 

We have said that Jeiferson Davis must ever appear to the 
eye of mankind the historic representative of the Confederate 
cause. The North can not, assuredly, reject this decision, 
since it made him the vicarious sufferer for what it affected to 
consider the sins of a nation. Through him, it actually ac- 
complished that from which the great abilities of Edmund 
Burke recoiled in confession of impotent endeavor, the indict- 
ment of an entire people. Those Southern men who have rashly 
and ungenerously assailed him as responsible for the failure of 
the South to win its independence, can not complain if the 
verdict of history shall be that the genius of its leader was 
worthy of a noble cause, whose fate the laws of nature, not 
the resources or the impotence of one man, determiued. The star 
of Napoleon went down upon the disastrous field of Waterloo, 
and the millions that he had liberated passed again under the 
domination of tyrants whom they despised. But would the 
most stupid Bourbon partisan, therefore, call in question the 



EARLY HISTORY OF THE CONFEDERACY. 251 

mighty genius of Napoleon ? It is a glorious memory to 
France, that her illustrious sovereign, aided by the valor of 
her children, defied for twenty years, the arms of combined 
Europe, but she has no blush that those energies were not 
equal to an indefinite resistance. That the South, struggling 
against mortal odds, with her comparatively feeble resources 
constantly diminishing with each prodigious effort, finally suc- 
cumbed to an enemy inexhaustible in strength and reinforced 
by the world, is no testimony against either the valor or the 
skill with which her struggle was directed. Like Washington, 
Davis was embarrassed, in a hazardous cause, with defec- 
tion, distrust, and discontent. But, unlike Washington, Davis 
did not receive the assistance of a powerful ally at the moment 
when aid could be most scrviceably employed. 

Recurring to the early history of the Confederacy, during 
the brief season when Montgomery was its seat of government, 
and especially to its unwritten details, there seems wanting no 
auspicious omen to presage for it future security and renown. 
The cause and its leader equally challenged the enthused sym- 
pathies of a patriotic people, and all that patriotism was ready 
to sacrifice for the one was cheerfully confided to the other. 
Hopefully, almost joyously, the young Confederacy began its 
short-lived career. Those were the halcyon days of that cheap 
patriotism and ferocious valor Avhich delights to vaunt itself 
beyond the sound of "war's rude alarms." Every aspect of 
the situation appears tinged with the coulcnr de rose. In fan- 
cied security of certain independence, achieved without the 
harsh resort of arms, demagogues boasted that they courted a 
trial of strength with the North, as an opportunity for the 
disjilay of Southern prowess. ]\Ien wdio subsequently were 
noted for unscrupulous assaults upon the Confederate admin- 



252 LIFE OF JEFFERSON DAVIS. 

istration, and, since the war, for their ready prostration before 
the Northern juggernaut, were then loud in "never surrender" 
proclamations of eternal separation from the North. 

Such was not an appropriate season for expressing grave and 
painful doubts of the President's fitness for his high trust. 
No whisper was then heard of his want of appreciation of his 
situation. There was no intimation then that he failed to 
discern the future, or refused to provide against the perils that 
menaced the Confederacy, and were so obvious to more saga- 
cious minds. Sensational newspaper correspondents, professing 
to base their accounts upon reliable hints from the executive 
quarter, were profuse in their panegyrics upon his indefatigable 
industry, his vigilance, penetration, and marvelous intuition 
of Yankee designs. They vied with each other in telling the 
Avorld, especially the North, of the stupendous preparations 
which the Government was making in anticipation of a pos- 
sible attempt at coercion by the Lincoln government. It was 
evident, from the outgivings of every source of opinion, that 
the Confederates trusting much to the merits of their cause and 
their own valor, yet largely depended for the successful issue 
of their assertion of independence upon the soldier-statesman, 
who, charged with many public duties, had never proven either 
unwilling or incapable in any trust. The time for censure was 
not yet at hand. Incompetent generals and recreant politicians 
were not yet in want of a scape-goat upon which to throw their 
own delinquencies. Harsh and censorious criticism was re- 
served for a more opportune period, when the Confederacy, 
like a wearied gladiator, whose spirit was invincible, reeled 
under the exhaustion of a dozen successive combats, with as 
many fresh adversaries. 

The high administrative capacity of Mr. Davis liad received 



ADMINISTRATIVE QUALITIES. 253 

a most fortunate discipline in his brilliant conduct of the Fed- 
eral War Department. That service was a valuaole auxiliary 
to his efficiency as the executive head of a new government, 
whose safety was, from its incipiency, to depend upon the re- 
sources of that rarest phase of genius, the combined capacity 
for civil and military administration. The complex machinery 
of government, even when moving smoothly in the accustomed 
grooves, imposes not only severe labor, but is frequently a 
painful tax upon the faculties of those most familiar with its 
workings. When to the labor of comprehension is added the 
task of construction and organization from comparative chaos, 
such as prevailed at Montgomery, and as prevails every-where, 
as the result of political change, the difficulties are increased 
tenfold. Creation must then precede order. Organization is 
to be perfected before administration can be successfully at- 
tempted. It is this task of organization which has invoked 
some of the most splendid displays of genius, and interposed 
the obstacles which have occasioned its severest disapjjoint- 
ments. Universal testimony awards to Najsoleon, for his won- 
derful ingenuity in penetrating social necessities and meeting 
civil emergencies, a merit not inferior to his unrivaled genius 
for war. Frederick the Great, in times of peace, exhibited a 
vicious pragmatism which rendered his civil rule contemptible 
when contrasted with his military success. 

The underlying secret of all successful administration is the 
union of the advantages flowing from unity of purpose, and 
those resulting from division of labor — so necessary to exact 
and intelligent execution. President Davis, throughout his 
administration, sought the attainment of this aim. Confiding 
the various departments to men of at least reputed talents and 
integrity, he yet exercised that constant supervision which 



254 LIFE OF JEFFEESON DAVIS. 

was inseparable from his responsibilities, and exacted by public 
expectation, and this without arrogance or dictation. Disin- 
genuous criticism has alleged that, by an assumption of auto- 
cracy, he united in himself all the powers and prerogatives of 
government, and thus professes to hold him alone responsible 
for the loss of his country's liberties. A score of years, or 
even a decade hence, and he will be exalted as the all-Informing 
mind which directed, vitalized, and inspired the noblest strug- 
gle of republicanism known to ancient or modern story. 

At the organization of the Confederate Government, his 
Individual taste, capacity and experience, were fortunately co- 
incident with the necessities of the situation In urging upon 
President Davis a thorough and efficient military establishment 
upon a war footing. The necessity of thorough preparation 
for war with the United States was never lost sight of by him. 
"Whatever his efforts to avert that calamity, its probabilities 
were too menacing not to challenge unremitting precautions. 
In the War Department and military legislation of the Con- 
federacy was felt the infusion of his energy and system, and 
were realized the fruits of his labors. There can be no more 
splendid monument of his genius than that superb specimen 
of scientific mechanism, the army of the Confederate States. 
Its nucleus was prepared In those few weeks' respite from 
actual war, passed by the Confederate Government, at 
Montgomery; and tlie framework then established was subse- 
quently enlarged upon, until it was developed into a model of 
military anatomy — of complex, yet harmonious organism — 
seldom rivaled and never surpassed In the history of war. 
Whatever may be said of defective features exhibited In the 
Confederate military organization, In the numerous and varied 
campaigns of the war, those defects arc not to be attributed to 



PEEFERS EDUCATED SOLDIERS. 255 

the original system. Whatever may be alleged against its lax 
discipline — that morbid influence which so fearfully enervated 
its efficiency, neutralized valor and strategy, and made the 
war a series of magnificent but valueless successes, the shadow, 
without the substance of victory — the fault was in the execu-w 
tion, not in the original conception. However admirably tcm-* 
pered the blade, that must be a skillful hand which woukl 
efficiently w^ield it. 

A graduate of West Point and a practical as well as 
theoretical soldier. President Davis naturally and, as the war 
demonstrated^ wisely inclined in his military administration to 
those theories which regard war as a science difficult and labo- 
rious of mastery. His marked and judicious partiality for 
educated soldiers was often the ground of censorious comment 
during the war, but this will hardly be adjudged a fault now. 
"West Point" was amply vindicated by the experience of both 
armies, against the sneers of those who affected such extreme 
admiration for the "native genius" of citizen-soldiers. With 
a few notable exceptions in the Confederate army (and here is 
to be considered the peculiar genius for war of the South), 
and scarcely one worth mention in the armies of the Xortli, 
the achievements of educated officers, and those of officers 
from civil life, are so utterly disproportionate as to forbid 
comparison. 

The paramount object of all Confederate diplomacy was to 
secure a recognition of the new Government by the Govern- 
ment of the United States. If war with the United States 
could be averted, the Confederacy was, for all time, a fixed 
fact. At an early period President Davis instituted efforts to 
secure by negotiation possession of certain fortifications and 
other property of the Federal Government located within the 



256 LIFE OF JEFFERSON DAVIS. 

limits of the seceded States. Arsenals, located in the interior, had, 
in many instances, been seized by the State trooj^s previous to the 
formation of the Confederate Government. Hapj^ily, those in 
authority at these places, appreciating the folly of resistance in 
a situation utterly helpless, had avoided a needless shedding 
of blood, by a prompt compliance with the demands of the 
State authorities. 

When the Confederate Government went into operation, 
there were but two fortifications within the limits of its juris- 
diction in the possession of Federal garrisons: Fort Sumter, 
in Charleston Harbor, and Fort Pickens, off Pensacola, Florida. 
These two positions were of the utmost value to the Confed- 
eracy, viewed as to location, and their peaceable acquisition 
was of increased importance in consideration of the obstinate 
defense of which they were capable. The continued oc- 
cupation of these positions by Federal forces was, in the 
highest degree, inconsistent with the dignity of the Con- 
federacy after it had proclaimed a distinct and independent 
natiouality. Moreover, in the present temper of the dom- 
inant party in the United States, a large mhjority of which 
favored coercion of the South back into the Union, Federal 
occupancy of these forts was a menace to the safety of the 
Confederacy. 

It is easy to appreciate the delicate character of the diplo- 
macy now required by the situation of the Confederacy. 
Without at all acquiescing in the Federal possession of Sum- 
ter and Pickens — on the contrary, asserting the right of the 
Confederacy to those places, and avowing its willingness to 
give adequate compensation whenever they should be surren- 
dered — it was yet necessary to avoid affront to a respectable 
minority at the North, influenced, aj^parently, by pacific inten- 



IMBECILITY OF MR. BUCHANAN. 257 

tlons. In short, it became the settled policy of the Confed- 
erate Government to postpone collision with the Federal 
Government until the latest possible moment — until obvious 
considerations of public safety should impel a resort to hostile 
measures. 

President Buchanan, whose term of office expired March 4, 
1861, after numerous badly disguised attempts at duplicity 
with the Confederate authorities, or more properly, with the 
authorities of some of the States constituting the Confederacy, 
and after a contemptibly weak and driveling policy of eva- 
sion, had left the negotiations between the two Governments 
in a most unsatisfactory and confused condition. A brief 
summary of Mr. Buchanan's conduct affijrds a most singular 
exhibition of mingled imbecility, timidity, and disingenuous- 
ness. His course, until the meeting of Congress, in December, 
1860, was understood to be in thorough accord with that of 
the States' Rights party of the South. In that party were his 
most trusted advisers, both in and out of the Cabinet, and it 
had given to his administration a consistent and cordial sup- 
port. Like them, he was pledged to the preservation of a 
constitutional Union, and also to a full recognition of the perils 
which menaced the South, resulting from the late sectional 
triumph. In his opening message he condemned the exercise 
of secession as unauthorized and illegal, but denied emphat- 
ically the right of coercion. Yet, in the sequel, he proved, 
equally with the Republican party, an enemy to peaceable se- 
cession. 

When South Carolina was preparing for secession, !Mr. 

Buchanan entered into a solemn understanding with a delegation 

of several of her most prominent citizens, that, upon condition 

that the people and authorities of that State should refrain from 
17 



258 LTFE OF JEFFERSON DAVIS. 

hostile demonstrations, no reinforcements should be sent to the 
forts in Charleston harbor, and that "their relative militai^y 
status should remain as at j^reseiit." Yet, when Major Ander- 
son, in positive violation of this agreement, removed his forces 
from the weaker forts to Fort Sumter, Mr. Buchanan refused 
to order him back. Having broken one stijiulation, he now 
determined to disregard the other, and, under the pretense of 
"provisioning a starving garrison," Mr. Buchanan attempted 
to send troops to Sumter.* 

But the conduct of Mr. Buchanan, Aveak, offensive, and 
disgusting, as it was to both North and South, becomes simply 
pitiable, when contrasted with the greater magnitude of the 
perfidy of the Lincoln government. 

The two Presidents, Davis and Lincoln, were inaugurated 
within a fortnight of each other — the first on the 18th of 
February, the latter on the 4th of March. Between them 
the question of peace or war must, after all, depend — for, 
however pacific might have been Mr. Buchanan's policy, it 
would fail, should Lincoln adopt a belligerent course. Con- 
siderable hope was, at times, indulged, that the negotiations 
with Mr. Lincoln and his Cabinet would at least be marked 
with a better display of candor than had commemorated the 
policy of his predecessor. These negotiations, as fruitless as 
those attempted in Congress during the preceding winter, for 
the prevention of secession, were to involve a question of even 
more moment. The direct issue of peace or war was now 
pending. It is confidently and successfully maintained by the 
South, that in the grave question of responsibility for actual 
bloodshed, her vindication is as clear and incontestable as 

* By the steamer "Star of the West," which was driven back by the 

South Carolina batteries. 



EFFORTS TO PREVENT WAR. 259 

must ever be her acquittal of the resjDonsibility of disunion. 
War with the United States was deprecated by official declara- 
tion of the Confederate States as " a policy detrimental to the 
civilized world." Most impressive is the declaration of Presi- 
dent Davis' inaugural : " Sustained by the consciousness that 
the transition from the former Union to the present Confed- 
eracy has not proceeded from a disregard, on our part, of just 
obligations, or any failure to perform any constitutional duty — 
moved by no interest or passion to invade the rights of others — 
anxious to cultivate peace and commerce with all nations, if 
we may not hope to avoid war, loe may at least expect that pos- 
terity will acquit us of having needlessly engaged in it." 

President Davis was at all times most solicitous for peace, 
and adopted every expedient of negotiation that could pro- 
mote that end. Heartily responding to the wishes of the 
Congress and people of the Confederacy, he appointed, in Feb- 
ruary, an embassy to the Government at Washington. The 
resolution of Congress, asking that the embassy should be 
sent, explains its object to be the " negotiating friendly relations 
between that Government and the Confederate States of 
America, and for the settlement of all questions of disagree- 
ment between the two governments upon principles of right, 
justice, equity, and good faith." 

Two of these commissioners, ISIessrs. Crawford and Forsyth, 
arrived in Washington on the 5th of March, the day succeed- 
ing Mr. Lincoln's inauguration. Wishing to allow the Presi- 
dent abundant opportunity for the discharge of the urgent 
official duties necessarily crowding upon him at such a season, 
the Confederate commissioners did not immediately press 
their mission upon his attention. At first giving merely an 
informal announcement of their arrival, they waited until the 



260 LIFE OF JEFFERSON DAVIS. 

12th of March before making an official presentation of their 
mission. On that day they addressed a formal communica- 
tion to the Secretary of State, Mr. Seward, announcing their 
authority to settle with the Federal Government all claims of 
public property arising from the separation of the States from 
the Union, and to negotiate for the withdrawal of the Federal 
forces from Forts Sumter and Pickens. 

Here begins a record of perfidy, the parallel of which is not 
to be found in the history of the world. Mr. Seward, while 
declining to recognize the Confederate commissioners officially, 
yet frequently held confidential communication with them, by 
which the faith of the t^vo Governments was fully pledged to 
a line of policy, by what should certainly be the strongest form 
of assurance — the personal honor of their representatives. In 
verbal interviews, the commissioners were frequently assured 
of a pacific policy by the Federal Government, that Fort 
Sumter would be evacuated, that the status at Fort Pickens 
should not be changed, and that no departure from these 
pacific intentions would be made without due notice to the 
Confederate Government. 

The commissioners, conformably to the spirit of their Gov- 
ernment, to avoid, if possible, collision with the United States, 
made an important concession in these interviews in consenting 
to waive all questions of form. It was alleged that formal 
negotiations with them, in an official capacity, would seriously 
jeopardize the success of Mr. Lincoln's manipulation of public 
sentiment at the North, which, it was further confidentially 
alleged, he was sedulously educating to concurrence with his 
own friendly purposes toward the Confederates. By this cun- 
ning device and the unscrupulous employment of deception 
and falsehood in his interviews with the commissioners, Mr. 



FEDERAL DUPLICITY. 261 

Seward accomplished the double purpose of successful imposi- 
tion upon the credulity of the commissioners and evasion of 
official recognition of the Confederate embassy. 

In the meantime, while these negotiations were pending, and 
in the midst of these friendly assurances, the Lincoln adminis- 
tration was secretly preparing hostile measures, and, as was 
clearly demonstrated by subsequent revelations, had never se- 
riously entertained any of the jDropositions submitted by the 
Confederate Government. Resolved not to evacuate Fort Sum- 
ter, the Federal Government, while amusing the Confederate 
commissioners with cunning dalliance, had for weeks been 
meditating the feasibility of reenforcing it. To pass the 
numerous batteries erected by the Confederates in Charleston 
harbor was clearly a task of the utmost difficulty, if, indeed, 
possible. So complete was the cordon of Confederate batteries 
w^hich had been in course of preparation for many weeks, that 
the beleaguered fortress was evidently doomed whenever the 
Confederates were provoked to fire upon it. The evacuation 
of Fort Sumter was clearly a military necessity, so pronounced 
by the highest military authority in the United States, and so 
regarded by the intelligent public of the North. Never had a 
Government so auspicious an opportunity to save the needless 
effusion of blood, and to avert indefinitely, if not finally, the 
calamity of war. 

Such a result was, however, farthest from the wishes of 
Mr. Lincoln and the majority of his Cabinet. Reinforcement 
of Fort Sumter being out of the question, it became the study 
of the Federal authorities to devise a convenient and effective 
pretext by which the North could be united in a war of subju- 
gation against the South, and for the extermination of slavery. 
To this end an expedition was ordered to Charleston, for the 



262 LIFE OF JEFFERSON DAVIS. 

purpose of supplying the garrison of Sumter with provisions, 
peaceably or forcibly, as events might decide. As it was well 
known that the Confederate authorities would not permit the 
execution of the object of this expedition, it was clearly a 
measure of hostility, prepared and conducted, too, under the 
most dishonorable circumstances of secrecy and falsehood as to 
its destination. 

In the meantime the Federal authorities continued to prac- 
tice the base policy of deception with the Confederate commis- 
sioners. Upon one occasion Mr. Seward declared that Fort 
Sumter would be evacuated before a letter, then ready to be 
mailed, could reach President Davis at Montgomery. Five days 
afterward, General Beauregard, commanding the Confederate 
forces in Charleston harbor, telegraphed the commissioners at 
Washington the ominous intelligence that the Federal com- 
mandant was actively strengthening Fort Sumter. The com- 
missioners were again soothed with Mr. Seward's renewed 
assurances of the positive intention of his government to evacu- 
ate the fort. As late as the 7th of April Mr. Seward gave the 
emphatic assurance : " Faith as to Sumter fully kept : wait and 
see." TJiis was the date of the sailing of the Federal fleet with a 
strong military force on board.^ The just characterization, by 

*It was not until the 8th of April that the commissioners obtained a 
reply to their official communication of March 12th. From this reply, it 
appeared that "during the whole interval while the commissioners were 
receiving assurances calculated to inspire hope of the success of their mis- 
sion, the Secretary of State and the President of the United States had 
already determined to hold no intercourse with them whatever ; to refuse 
even to listen to any proposals they had to. make, and had profited by the 
delay created by their own assurances, in order to prepare secretly the 
means for effective hostile operations." — President Davis Message^ April 
2Wi, 1861. 



BOMBARDMENT OP FORT SUMTER. 263 

President Davis, of these deceptions, was, that "the crooked 
paths of diplomacy can scarcely furnish an example so wanting 
in courtesy, in candor, and directness, as was the course of the 
United States Government toward our commissioners in Wash- 
ington."'*^ 

The expedition was some hours on its way,t when its pur- 
pose to provision the fort was announced to the Governor of 
South Carolina by an agent of the United States. This 
announcement was telegraphed to Montgomery by General 
Beauregard, who also asked for instructions. His government 
replied, that if the message was authentic, a demand should be 
made for the surrender of the fort to the Confederate forces ; 
and in the event of refusal, its reduction should be undertaken. 
On the 11th of April the demand was made and refused, j In 
obedience to the orders of his government General Beauregard 

* Message to Confederate Congress. 

fThis expedition, ostensibly "for the relief of a starving garrison," 
consisted of eleven vessels, Avith two hundred and eighty-five guns and 
twenty-four hundred men. 

t Before instructing General Beauregard to fire upon the fort, President 
Davis made another effort to prevent hostilities, which he thus explains: 
"Even then" (after Beauregard had applied for instructions), "under all 
the provocation incident to the contemptuous refusal to listen to our com- 
missioners, and the treacherous course of the Government of the United 
States, I was sincerely anxious to avoid the effusion of blood, and directed 
a proposal to be made to the commander of Fort Sumter, who had avowed 
himself to be nearly out of provisions, that wc would abstain from direct- 
ing our fire at Fort Sumter, if he would promise not to open fire on our 
forces unless first attacked. This proposal was refused. The conclusion 
was, that the design of the United States was to place the besieging force 
at Charleston between the simultaneous fire of the fleet and fort. The 
fort should, of course, be at once reduced. This order was executed by 
General Beauregard with skill and success." — Message, 29th Avril, 1861. 



264 • LIFE OF JEFFERSON DAVIS. 

opened fire upon Fort Sumter early on the morning of the 
12th April. On the 13th the fort surrendered. 

The calculations of Mr. Lincoln and his cabinet, as to the 
result to be produced by the attack on Fort Sumter, pro- 
voked t)y their deliberate and dishonest design, were not dis- 
appointed. A furious and instantaneous rush to arms by the 
North followed the intelligence of the surrender of the fort, 
and revealed the ferocious lust with which it had awaited the 
signal to begin the crusade against the liberties and property 
of the South. As no possible trait of guilt had been wanting 
in the means employed to precipitate hostilities, so no conceiv- 
able feature of atrocity was to be wanting in the conduct of a 
war by the North, produced by its own avarice, perfidy, and 
lust of dominion. 

The brief recapitulation which we have given sufficiently 
exposes the pretexts upon which the North began the war of 
coercion. Assuming that the national dignity had been in- 
sulted, and the national honor violated, by an attack upon the 
flag of the Union, under the impious profession of vindicating 
the law, the North drew its sword against the sovereignty of 
the States. It had procured the assault ujjon Sumter — that 
essential step to the desired frenzy of the masses. By a shal- 
low device, the South had been provoked to initiate resistance 
— that long-sought pretext which should justify the most 
barbaric invasion of modern times. Yet, under this flimsy 
imposition, tlie North cloaks its crime, and exults in its antic- 
ipated immunity from those execrations which have been the 
reward of similar examples of turpitude. The spirit of inquiry 
is not to be thus deftly eluded, nor the avenging sentence of 
history so easily perverted. The question shall not be, w'ho 
fired the first shot? but, loho offered the first aggression'? ivlio 



THE .SOUTH JUSTIFIED. • 265 

first indicated the purpose of hostUUy ? AVc are not required to 
await tlie bur.stiiif5 forth of the flumes over our heudw, wlieu 
the fell intent of tiie ineendiiiry is revealed to our sight. The 
menace of the murderer justifies his intended victim in eluding 
the blow while the steel is uplifted. 

Jefferson Davis signed the order for the reduction of Fort 
Sumter, but he did not thereljy invoke the calamities of war. 
That act was simply the patriot's defiance to the menace of 
tyranny. It was the choice of the freemuu between resistance 
and shame. 



266 LIFE OF JEFFEESON DAVIS. 



CHAPTER IX. 

EVENTS CONSEQUENT UPON THE BOMBARDMENT OF FORT STJJITER — WR. LINCOLN 
BEGINS THE WAR BY USURPATION — THE BORDER STATES — CONTINUED DU- 
PLICITY OF THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT — VIRGINIA JOINS THE COTTON 

STATES AFFAIRS IN MARYLAND, MISSOURI, AND KENTUCKY UNPROMISING 

PHASES OF THE SITUATION, AFFECTING THE PROSPECTS OF THE SOUTH 

DIVISIONS IN SOUTHERN SENTIMENT — THE NORTHERN DEMOCRACY — PRESI- 
DENT DAVIs' ANTICIPATIONS REALIZED — HIS RESPONSE TO MR. LINCOLN'S 
PROCLAMATION OF WAR — PUBLIC ENTHUSIASM IN THE SOUTH — PRESIDENT 
DAVIs' MESSAGE — VIRGINIA THE FLANDERS OF THE WAR — REMOVAL OF THE 
CONFEDERATE CAPITAL TO RICHMOND — POLICY OF THAT STEP CONSIDERED — 
POPULAR REGARD FOR MR. DAVIS IN VIRGINIA — ACTION OF THE VIRGINIAN 
AUTHORITIES — NORTH CAROLINA; HER NOBLE CONDUCT, AND EFFICIENT AID 
TO THE CONFEDERACY — MILITARY PREPARATIONS IN VIRGINIA — GENERAL 
LEE — HIS SERVICES IN THE EARLY MONTHS OF THE WAR — MINOR ENGAGE- 
MENTS — PREPARATIONS FOR THE GREAT STRUGGLE IN VIRGINIA — AN IM- 
PORTANT HISTORICAL QUESTION — CHARGES AGAINST MR. DAVIS CONSIDERED — 
HIS STATESMAN-LIKE PREVISION — DID HE ANTICIPATE AND PROVIDE FOR 
WAR? — WHEN MR. DAVIs' RESPONSIBILITY BEGAN — HIS ENERGETIC PREPAR- " 
ATION — THE PREVAILING SENTIMENT AT MONTGOMERY AS TO THE WAR — 
QUOTATIONS FROM GENERAL EARLY AND GENERAL VON MOLKTE. 

|j1 VENTS quickly followed the surrender of Fort Sumter, 
-■-^ foreshadowing the violence and magnitude of the strife 
about to be joined between the sundered sections of America. 
If the North showed itself prompt and enthusiastic to recog- 
nize the signal of conquest and spoliation, the South was 
tenfold more resolute and confident in its tri|)le armor of 
right. If the adroit appeals of Mr. Lincoln's adherents, in 
behalf of an " insulted flag," and an " outraged national dig- 



MR. Lincoln's proclamation. 207 

nity," broke down the barriers of party, and united the 
Northern masses in an imagined crusade of patriotism for the 
rescue of the Union, the occasion brought' to the Confederacy 
accessions of strength, which, if they did not ensure a success- 
ful defense, established the fact of protracted resistance. 

Mr. Lincoln and his advisers promptly seized upon the 
favorable opportunity presented by the fanatical excitement 
prevalent throughout the North. Within forty-eight hours 
after the intelligence of the bloodless encounter of Sumter was 
flashed over the land, his proclamation of war against the 
seceded States was read by thousands of excited people.* A 
flimsy and indefensible perversion of an act, passed by Con- 
gress, in 1795, which simply provided the raising of armed 
posses " in aid of the civil authorities," was the shallow pre- 
text, under which was masked the real design of a war Avhich 
was to terminate in the destruction of the sovereignty of tlie 
States. Beginning with this clear usurpation of the power 
of Congress, which is alone authorized to declare war, and 
proclaiming a purpose to "maintain the honor, the integrity, 
and existence " of the Union, " and the perpetuity of popular 
government," the work of conquest was begun. 

The role undertaken by the Federal government was em- 
barrassed by many difficulties. It had not yet relinquished 
the hope of retaining the Border States firm in their adhesion 
to the Union. As yet the action of those States had indicated 
no purpose of separation from the North, unless in the event 
of direct interference by the Federal authorities with their 
domestic concerns, or in the event of a war of subjugation 
against the seceded States. Popular feeling in all the Border 
States was unmistakably resolved against the policy of coer- 
*Mr. Lincoln's proclamation was dated April 15, 1861. 



268 LIFE OF JEFFERSON DAVIS. 

cion, and in several instances State Legislatures had declared 
a purpose to make common cause with the seceded States, 
whenever the Federal authorities should appeal to force against 
them. It was difficult indeed for the latter to reconcile their 
hostile purposes against the Confederate States with the pro- 
fessions of peaceful intentions which they so freely tendered 
to the Border States. Well pleased, however, with the uniform 
success of its policy of duplicity, the Federal administration 
adhered to its " treacherous amusement of double and triple 
negotiations," hoping to amuse the Border States, by pacifying 
assurances, until its schemes of coercion could be thoroughly 
prepared.* But the sham was too transparent to deceive. 
Friendly assurances and protestations of a desire to avoid the 
effusion of blood were not to be accej^ted in the face of 
gigantic martial preparations. 

An immediate consequence of Mr. Lincoln's proclamation 
of war, and invocation of an army of seventy-five thousand 
men, for the subjugation of the Cotton States, was to throw 
the mighty energies and hei-oic spirit of Virginia, hitherto 
neutral and hesitating, into hearty sympathy with the Con- 
federacy. The sublime courage and devotion of this noble 
State, manifested by the circumstances of her accession to the 
cause of her sister States, have been the theme of repeated, 
but not extravagant eulogy. With a full conviction of her 
own peculiar perils in a war which she had zealously striven 
to prevent; from which, whatever its eventualities, she had 

* On the day of the surrender of Fort Sumter, Mr. Lincoln j^rotested 
to the Vh-ginia commissioners the pacific purposes of his government. 
When giving these assurances to Virginia he had heard of the surrender 
of the fort, and knew that for two days Beauregard had been firing upon 
the "sacred flag." 



ACTION OF BORDER STATES. 2G9 

little to hope, and with a perfect prevision of the ruin wliich 
was to ravage her bosom, Virginia proudly assumed the post 
of leadership and of peril in the struggle for those immortal 
principles, of which her soil was the nursery and her illustrious 
sons the foremost champions. The historic prestige of Virginia 
was heightened by this act of supreme devotion, and the value 
of her influence was speedily demonstrated by the enthusiastic 
accession of other States to the cause which she had esjioused. 
The ordinance of secession, adopted by the Virginia Con- 
vention, was followed immediately by a temporary alliance* 
with the Confederate States, and in a few weeks afterward 
the Confederacy embraced, in addition to its original members, 
Virginia, North Carolina, Tennessee, and Arkansas, each of 
which, by formal State action, ratified the Confederate con- 
stitution. 

The arbitrary acts of the Federal government, in Maryland 
and Missouri, not only vindicated the course of those States 
which had interpreted its policy as one of subjugation, but 
greatly strengthened the already preponderant Southern sym- 
pathies of those two commonwealths. Increasing by consecu- 
tive proclamations his demands for troops, Mr. Lincoln soon 
had' nearly two hundred thousand men under arms. These 
troops assembled under filse pretenses at different points, were 
used for purposes of glaring despotism; overawing the pro- 
nounced Southern feeling of the people by military arrests, by 
licentious and violent demonstrations of the soldiery. Missouri 
was soon in open revolt against the Federal authorities, and 
in Maryland a general uprising was prevented by the thorough 
precautions which had been adopted, rendering clearly hopeless 

* April 24, 1861. Vh-ginia joined the Confederacy as a uu'nibcr 
May 6, 1861. 



270 LIFE OF JEFFERSON DAVIS. 

such an undertaking. The Legislature of Missouri, unques- 
tionably representing a large majority of her citizens, event- 
ually adopted an ordinance of secession and ratified the 
constitution of the Confederate States. Kentucky, vainly 
attempting a policy of neutrality, was divided in sentiment 
and in strength between the contestants. A portion of her 
citizens, residing within the Confederate lines, several months 
after the beginning of the war, declared the State out of the 
Union, and associated Kentucky with the Confederacy. 

Such were the immediate consequences resulting from the 
capture of Fort Sumter. All hopes of peace vanished in the 
rush of events which daily contributed new elements to the 
incipient strife, and with constant reinforcements of strength 
and feeling to each of the contending parties, there was want- 
ing no omen of a struggle bloody and exhaustive beyond all 
previous example. 

There were phases of the situation not to be lightly appre- 
ciated by so thoughtful a statesman as President Davis, which 
did not encourage that sanguine conviction, so extravagantly 
indulged in by many popular leaders, of an overwhelming and 
immediate triumph of the Southern cause. The immense 
disparity of physical resources, as was abundantly shown by 
the lessons of history, could be neutralized by a wise public 
administration, by superior valor, and by that high sense of 
public virtue, in its original Roman sense of fortitude, endur- 
ance, and willing sacrifice in the cause of country, which is the 
last and sure defense of a nation's liberties. Nor were those 
important advantages of the South, to the value of which his- 
torical precedents have so conclusively testified — a conscious 
rectitude of purpose — a supreme conviction that theirs was 
the better cause, and that, besides, it was a war for home and 



ELEMENT OF WEAKNESS IN THE SOUTH. 271 

family, to be fought maiuly upon their own soil — to be over- 
looked in an intelligent estimate of the relative strength of 
the belligerents. 

It was not a failure to recognize these great advantages 
which forbade wise and reflective Southern statesmen to indulge 
in those grotesque exhibitions of braggadocio, with which 
demagogues amused excited crowds at railway stations and 
upon street-corners. There was an element of weakness in the 
South, which, looking to the contingencies of the future, and 
remembering the incertitude of war, might prove the source 
of serious danger. This was the absence of that unity in the 
South, to which all her statesmen had looked forward, when- 
ever actual battle should be joined between the defenders and 
assailants of Southern liberties. To see a " United South," 
had been for years the dream of Calhoun's noble intellect. 
Davis, with equal energy and ability, had striven for such 
united action by the South as would command peace and se- 
curity in the Union, or independence beyond its limits. But 
now the battle was joined, and the dream was not to be realized. 

Kentucky was hopelessly divided, and though, from the 
overwhelming majority of her people in sympathy with the 
South, were to come thousands of gallant soldiers, the Confed- 
eracy was to be denied the powerful aid which the brave heart 
and mighty resources of united Kentucky should have thrown 
into the scale. Missouri, in consequence of her geographical po- 
sition, peculiarly assailable by the North-western States, and by 
divisions among her population, was similarly situated ; while 
Maryland, a gallant and patriotic State, not less than South 
Carolina devoted to the independence of the South, was se- 
curely shackled at the first demonstration, by her people, of 
sympathy with their invaded countrymen. 



272 LIFE OF JEFFEESON DAVIS. 

But not only was there a failure to realize united action by 
those States, which, by geographical contiguity, no less than by 
identity of political institutions, constituted what was desig- 
nated as The South. There was by no means a thoroughly 
harmonious sentiment among the people of those States which 
had joined the Southern alliance. This was conspicuously the 
case in Western Virginia and Eastern Tennessee.* Though ap- 
parently insignificant in the midst of the general enthusiasm 
which 25revailed in the early months of the war, these and 
other instances of local disaffection were to prove, at more than 
one critical period, fruitful of embarrassment. Intelligence of 
Confederate disasters was always the signal for exhibitions of 
that covert disloyalty which Confederate success compelled to 
concealment. Always ready to assist the invaders of their 
country, the so-called " Union men " of the South were valu- 
able auxiliaries to the Federal armies as spies, and as secret 
enemies to the cause of the patriots ; but they were not more 
hurtful and insidious in these capacities than as the nucleus 
around which crystallized, under the direction of disappointed 
demagogues, the various elements of discontent which were 
subsequently developed. 

Yet in both sections was the outward seeming at least of an 
undivided war sentiment. The Union party of the South, as 
it had previously existed — a powerful political organization, 
embracing a majority of the people of the Border States — did 
not more immediately disappear, as the certainty of war was 
developed, than did the party of peace at the North. The 
Northern Democracy did not, for a moment, strive to breast 
the popular current, but its leaders, the life-long allies of the 

*"East Tennessee" was a perpetual "fire in the rear" to the Con- 
federacy. 



PEESIDENT DAVIS RESPONDS. 273 

South, committed, by a thousand declarations to the cause of 
States' Rights, eagerly vied with the Republican leaders in 
threats of vengeance against the South. The Dickinsons, 
Everetts, Cochran es, Logans, and Butlers — hitherto the pro- 
fessed friends and advocates of the South — with that pliant 
accommodation to circumstances, so befitting the instincts of 
the demagogue, in their harangues to howling mobs, pro- 
claimed themselves the advocates of a ruthless and indiscrim- 
inate warfare upon a people who had been driven, by intolerable 
wrongs, into patriotic resistance. 

We have already described the attitude and condition of the 
Confederate Government at Montgomery previous to the at- 
tack upon Fort Sumter. The honorable exertions of President 
Davis, cordially approved by Congress and the people, to 
avoid a collision of arms, were disappointed, and events had 
now verified his life-long conviction, that the exercise of their 
sovereignty, by the States, would be attended by a war in- 
volving their existence. Sustained by an unlimited j)opular 
confidence, with a comparatively perfected organization, and 
with every possible preparation that the difficulties of its sit- 
uation would permit, the Government met, with commendable 
composure, the shock of arms which its chief had foreseen to 
be inevitable. 

The proclamation of President Lincoln, declaring war upon 
the Confederate States, was promptly responded to by Presi- 
dent Davis, in official announcements, appropriately recognizing 
the condition of public affiiirs, and inviting energetic prepara- 
tions for immediate hostilities. He at once called upon the 
various States for quotas of volunteers for the public defense. 
By public proclamation, he invited applications for privateer- 
ing service, in which armed vessels might assist in the public 
18 



274 "LIFE OF JEFFERSON DAVIS. 

defense on the high seas, under letters of marque and reprisal 
granted by Congress.* 

In every instance, and by all classes of citizens, an enthusi- 
astic response was given to the demands of the Government. 
Individuals and corporations entered into a generous and 
patriotic rivalry in the tender of aid to the cause. Wealthy 
citizens donated large sums of money or supplies, while rail- 
road and transportation companies tendered valuable assistance 
in the conveyance of troops and stores. An enthusiastic desire 
to enter the public service was manifested in every community. 
Men decrepit from age, or infirm from disease, were impor- 
tunate in demanding any service suitable to their condition. 
Volunteering progressed so actively that a few weeks only suf- 
ficed to show that the Confederacy — for the present at least — 
would not want soldiers. In all the States the responses to 
the call for volunteers exceeded the quotas. 

Congress assembled in special session, in obedience to a 

* President Davis appreciated the immense value to the South of priva- 
teering. The Federal Government employed all the naval foi'ce at their 
command to blockade the South, recalled the squadrons stationed in foreign 
waters, and made extensive purchases of vessels for purposes of war. 
The South, of course, had no navy, since there had been no time to pre- 
pare or purchase one within the brief space between the organization of 
the Confederate Government and the beginning of hostilities. Under 
these circumstances there remained only the resort to private armed ships, 
under letters of marque, to assault the floating commerce of the enemy, 
and, to some extent, neutralize the blockade. Doubting the constitutional 
power of the executive in the premises, he, with characteristic regard for 
law, determined not to commission privateers until duly authorized by the 
legislation of Congress. The authority to issue commissions, and letters 
of marque and general reprisal, to privateers, was given by act of Congress, 
passed 6th of May. 



PRESIDENT DAVIS' MESSAGE. 275 

proclamation of the President, on the 29th of April. The 
message was an eminently characteristic document, and made a 
profound impression both in Europe and the United States. 
Its calm and clear statements were in marked contrast with 
the wild elements of war convulsing the country. Europe 
was not less amazed and delighted with its dignity and force, 
than was the North impressed with the earnest terms in which 
the purpose of resistance was announced. He reviewed and 
established the doctrine of secession, detailed the facts showing 
the bad faith of the Northern government about Fort Sumter, 
and the necessity for its capture; spoke in terms of keen, yet 
dignified satire of Lincoln's proclamation, which attempted to 
treat seven sovereign States united in a confederacy, and hold- 
ing five millions of people and a half million of square miles 
of territory, as " combinations," which he proposed to suppress 
by a posse comitatus of seventy-five thousand men ; congratu- 
lated the Congress on the probable accession of other slave 
States; informed them that the State Department had sent 
three commissioners to England, France, Russia and Belgium, 
to seek the recognition of the Confederate States; advised 
legislation for the employment of privateers for measures of 
defense, and for perfecting the government organization; and 
concluded with these impressive words: "We feel that our 
cause is just and holy; we protest solemnly in the face of 
mankind that we desire peace at any sacrifice save that of honor 
and independence; we seek no conquest, no aggrandizement, 
no concession of any kind from the States with whom we were 
lately confederated. All we seek is to be let alone; that those 
who never held power over us shall not now attempt our sub- 
jugation by arms. This we will, this we must resist to the 
direst extremity. The moment that this pretension is aban- 



276 LIFE OF JEFFEESON DAVIS. 

doned^ the sword will drop from our grasp, and we shall be 
ready to enter into treaties of amity and commerce that can 
not but be materially beneficial. So long as this pretension is 
maintained, with firm reliance on that divine power which 
covers with its protection the just cause, we will continue the 
struggle for our inherent right to freedom, independence, and 
self-government." 

The geographical position of Virginia clearly indicated that 
State as the Flanders of the war. Within her boundaries was 
necessarily to be located the first line of Confederate defense, 
and also to be found more than one favorable point cUappui 
for the invading forces. To the aid of important geographical 
and physical considerations, moral and political necessities 
were superadded, to urge a prompt and vigorous assistance to 
Virginia, in the heroic effort which she was preparing for her 
deliverance. With the eye of the soldier and the appreciation 
of the statesman. President Davis urged the immediate removal 
of the seat of government to the neighborhood of the seat of 
war. On the 20th of May the seat of the Confederate Gov- 
ernment was transferred from Montgomery to Richmond, the 
capital of Virginia, and within a few days afterward Mr. Davis 
reached the latter city.* 

* A recent work {^Richmond During the War') thus mentions the arrival 
of Mr. Davis in Richmond : 

" He was received with an outburst of enthusiasm. A suite of hand- 
some apartments had been provided for him at the Spotswood Hotel, until 
arrangements could be made for supplying him with more elegant and 
suitable accommodations. Over the hotel, and from the various windows 
of the guests, waved numerous Confederate flags, and the rooms destined 
for his use were gorgeously draped in the Confederate colors. In honor 
of his arrival, almost every house in the city was decorated with the ' Stars 
and Bars.' 



RICHMOND THE CAPITAL. 277 

The transfer of the Confederate capital to Richmond was an 
event affecting the direction, character, and destinies of the 
war to sudi an extent as entitles it to be considered one of its 
salient incidents. As a measure of policy, it has been variously- 
viewed, and has involved some interesting discussion of mili- 
tary and strategic considerations. In the progress of events 
during the war, its wisdom was generally recognized, and in 
the calmer judgment of the present there is scarcely a dissent- 
ing voice to the prevailing opinion that it was a master-stroke 
of political sagacity and military forecast. 

High military authority has been quoted in support of the 
opinion oj)posed to locating the Confederate capital at Rich- 
mond. Ingeniously enough it was alleged that such a step 
involved fighting on the exterior of the circle instead of the 
centre, and that thus the great advantage to the party conduct- 
ing operations upon an interior line would be surrendered. 
It was also tolerably certain that the North would aim, in its 
invasion, at the Confederate capital as the vital objective point 
of its campaigns ; and to transfer the capital to a point so far 

"An elegant residence for the use of Mr. Davis was soon procured. It 
was situated in the western part of the city, on a hill, overlooking a land- 
scape of romantic beauty. This establishment was luxuriantly furnished, 
and there Mr. and ^Irs. Davis dispensed the elegant hospitalities for 
which they were ever distinguished. Mrs. Davis is a tall, commanding 
figure, with dark hair, eyes and complexion, and strongly -marked expres- 
sion, which lies chiefly in the mouth. With firmly-set yet flexible lips, 
there is indicated much energy of purpose and will, but beautifully 
softened by the usually sad expression of her dark, earnest eyes. Her 
manners are kind, graceful, easy, and affable, and her receptions were 
characterized by the dignity and suavity which should very properly dis- 
tinguish the drawing room entertainments of the Chief Magistrate of a 
Republic." 



278 LIFE OF JEFFERSOX DAVIS. 

north as Richmond, greatly diminished the enemy's difficulties 
— first, as to space; and secondly, by shortening his line of 
transportation and supply. 

But these views were the conclusions of a purely strategic 
judgment, overlooking entirely moral and political considera- 
tions involved, nor are they by any means exhaustive of the 
argument as to the military aspects of the situation. The 
courageous and unselfish action of Virginia deserved a response 
of similar spirit from the Confederacy. Virginia had volun- 
tarily become the outpost of the South, and her people needed 
the presence among them of that authority which was to wield 
her great resources, organize her energies, and give counsel to 
her courage. Her people invited the Government to join 
them and make the battle for the common deliverance of the 
South around theu' homesteads. To accept this invitation was 
a step no less characteristic of President Davis than was his 
prompt, decisive action in the crisis at Buena Vista. It had 
the combined advantage of bold defiance and prudent calcula- 
tion. This bold courting of the issue by the infant power, 
at the very outset of hostilities, was the foundation of that 
brilliant prestige which marked its earlier historj^. To an ad- 
versary intoxicated w*ith an overweening sense of numerical 
superiority, and a brutal reliance upon his superior strength, 
this defiant planting of the standard in front of his first line 
was a significant warning of the difficulties of the task which 
he had undertaken. 

President Davis has never seen reason to regret the trans- 
fer of the Government to Richmond. It bound Virginia, by 
indissoluble ties to the fortunes of the Confederacy, and was 
the beginning of an affection for himself, among her citizens, 
which it was their pride to exhibit in the face of calamities 



EVENTS IN VIRGINIA. 279 

common to him and to themselves. Not even in his own 
gallant State of Mississippi are the genius, virtues, and fame 
of Jefferson Davis cherished with a more tender .association 
than in Virginia. 

A brief resume of events will now assist to a clear under- 
standing of the situation of affairs when President Davis 
reached Richmond in the latter part of May. Virginia, a 
week previously, had, by formal vote of her people, ratified 
the ordinance of secession adopted by her convention. When 
the convention passed the ordinance of secession on the 17th 
of April, the State authorities, with commendable discretion, 
prepared to make important seizures of arms, stores, etc., the 
property of the Federal Government within the limits of the 
State. Governor Letcher — well known for his steadfast de- 
votion to the Union, and for his honorable zeal to preserve 
it — in this trying crisis of the State, was nobly faithful to his 
Virginian instincts, and mindful of the honorable part which 
devolved upon Virginia's Governor. 

The capture of two places of special importance was sought 
by expeditions arranged with secrecy and ingenuity, but re- 
sulting, in both instances, in only partial success. These 
places were Gosport Navy-yard — famous for its dry-dock, 
shops, ammunition, arms, timber, rope-walks, and other ap- 
purtenances of an extensive naval establishment — and Har- 
per's Ferry, on the Potomac, with its extensive armory and 
arsenal, large collection of arms, and valuable machinery. At 
the latter place, the Federal commander, by an unworthy sub- 
terfuge, obtained a delay in the attack which the Virginians 
were about to make, and took advantage of a parley, to at- 
tempt the destruction, by fire, of the buildings and machinery. 
Much valuable property was destroyed, but the State secured 



280 lAFF. OP JEKFKllSON J>AVIS. 

machinery, whicli was afterward turned to most important 
account, and many excellent arms for her rapidly gathering 
volunteers. The attempted destruction, by the Federals, at 
Gosport, was imperfectly executed. Among the prizes cap- 
tured here was the steam frigate Merrimac, nearly finished, 
but greatly damaged by fire. Within a very few months this 
vessel was destined to a performance, conspicuous for all time 
in the annals of naval warfare. 

The authorities of North Carolina — a State which had clung 
with unsurpassed fidelity to the Federal Union — acted with a 
vigor which well befitted a community conspicuous, in the 
first American revolution, for the fidelity of its patriotism. 
Slow to reach her conclusions. North Carolina was fully ujd to 
the demands of the occasion, in her preparation for a struggle, 
during which her revolutionary fame was to be excelled by a 
second dedication of her blood and energies to the cause of 
liberty. On the 21st of May, North Carolina, by unanimous 
vote of her convention, adopted an ordinance of secession. 
Her brave Governor (Ellis) whose services were too soon lost 
to his State and country, had previously caused the seizure of 
Forts Macon and Caswell, and the arsenal at Fayetteville, 
with nearly sixty thousand arms, of which half were of the 
most approved construction. 

On the 19th of April occurred a collision between citizens 
of Baltimore and Massachusetts soldiers, en route to the Fed- 
eral capital, followed by such a stringent policy as made 
clearly hopeless the open cooperation of Maryland, unless by 
successful invasion of the Confederate forces. 

Missouri, under the guidance of Jackson, Price, and other 
able and resolute leaders, was preparing a heroic resistance, 
but under difficulties greater than were experienced in any 



GENERAL LEE. 281 

other Southern State, against the domination established upon 
her soil. 

When President Davis reached Richmond he found Vir- 
ginia in an advanced state of preparation. Thirty thousand 
troops were in camps of instruction, or upon duty at Norfolk, 
upon the peninsula of James and York Rivers, and at differ- 
ent points upon the northern boundary of the State. In su- 
preme command was General Robert E. Lee, the friend and 
former classmate of the President at West Point ; and, under 
him. Colonel John B. Magruder, also his associate at West 
Point, and other officers of promise and ability, seeking ser- 
vice in defense of their native State and the South. As the 
several States acceded to the Confederacy, their troops, arms, 
stores, etc., were turned over to the Confederate authorities, 
and officers were assigned rank in the Confederate service by 
a rule, regulated by the rank which they had held in the Fed- 
eral army. 

In accordance with this rule, General Lee was third on the 
list of full generals appointed by President Davis — General 
Cooper being first, and General Albert Sydney Johnston being 
second. General Lee had been first commissioned, after the 
tender of his resignation in the Federal service, a Major- 
General of Virginia forces. Until he was commissioned full 
general, by President Davis, in June, 1861, he continued 
to act as the general commanding the Virginia forces, and was 
invested also with the direction of the Confederate troops 
which were arriving daily from the States south. His author- 
ity was as follows : 

"Montgomery, May 10, 1S61. 

"To 3Iajor- General R. E. Lee: To prevent confusion, you 
will assume control of the forces of the Confederate States in 



282 LIFE OF JEFFERSON DAVIS. 

Virginia, and assign them to such duties as you may in- 
dicate, until further orders; for which this will be your 

authority. 

" L. P. Walkee, Secretary of War." 

It would be impossible to overestimate the services of Gen- 
eral Lee in the preparation of the Virginia troops for the 
field, and in preparing the general defense of the State by the 
location and disposition of the Confederate forces as they ar- 
rived in Virginia. His distinguished services afterwards are 
hardly better evidence of his genius as a soldier, than the 
results of his arduous labor at this trying period, and in a 
position of comparative obscurity. President Davis fully in- 
dicated his confidence in the counsels of Lee by his constant 
retention of him at his side. The South has probably not yet 
appreciated the extent to which the genius of Lee, in coopera- 
tion with that of Davis, aided in those earlier achieve- 
ments of the war, which secured the immediate preservation 
of the Confederacy, and earned so flattering a reputation for 

others. 

With the establishment of the Confederate authority in 
Virginia, reinforcements from other States were constantly 
added to her own levies, and by the middle of June, more 
than fifty thousand men were in arms for her defense. As 
yet, collisions between the opjjosing forces had been rare, and 
totally indecisive. A force of raw volunteers, unorganized 
and imperfectly armed, was surprised in Western Virginia, by 
a movement of considerable vigor on the part of the Federal 
commander, and the patriots, under Colonel Porterfield, com- 
pelled to retreat. At Great Bethel, near Fortress Monroe, a 
few hundred Virginians and North Carolinians, under Colonel 



mageuder's victory. 283 

Magriider, handsomely repulsed a large column of Federal 
troops, attempting to advance up the peninsula. In the then 
uneducated popular idea of military operations, the fight at 
Bethel was magnified to an extent greatly beyond its real 
importance. It had, nevertheless, a timely significance, in its 
evidence of the spirit of the Confederate soldiery. President 
Davis was pleased to recognize this fact in a congratulatory 
letter to Governor Ellis, commending the conduct of the jS^orth 
Carolinians who were engaged in the fight. 

These minor affairs were preliminary incidents to the 
thrilling events, upon a more extended scale of operations, and 
upon a more important theatre, which were to make mem- 
orable the approaching midsummer. Pending the preparations, 
active and extensive on both sides, for the coming grand 
encounter, there was a marked pause in military operations, 
attended by an agreeable subsidence of the feverish excitement 
of wliich war is so productive. The struggle for the mastery 
in Virginia, which it was plain would decide the present fate 
of the Southern movement, was destined also to decide, in a 
large measure, the extent and duration of the war. Viewed 
in its historical significance, it becomes chiefly important as a 
stage of the revolution indicating a new departure, and an 
altered direction of events. Preparation was now to be dis- 
placed by action. Skirmishes were to be followed by heavy 
engagements, and the high prestige of the South was now to 
be subjected to its first j:est, in that long series of cruel en- 
counters, between valor and endurance on one side, and mere 
weight of numbers on the other. 

Preliminary to the narrative of these important events, ap- 
propriately arises one phase of that historical question Avliieh 
involves the statesmanship!, the forecast, and the general fitness 



284 LIFE OF JEFFEESON DAVIS. 

of Jefferson Davis in the position which he now occupied, 
and under the circumstances by which he was surrounded. 

It would be a superfluous and unprofitable task to consider 
in detail the numerous allegations, trivial and serious, made 
against President Davis by his assailants, in support of their 
professed belief in his responsibility for the failure of the 
Confederate cause. When facts are perverted, history dis- 
torted, and prejudice, rather than truth, is the governing in- 
fluence, such allegations will be sufficiently numerous, even 
though they be not well sustained. Nor yet is it maintained 
that President Davis committed no errors in the long and 
trying term of his administration. It is very certain that no 
such defense, asserting his infallibility, would be approved 
by him. But the real historical significance of the ques- 
tion of Mr. Davis' capacity for his office may be reduced 
to very simple dimensions. Conceding him to be mor- 
tal, we concede that he is fallible. Then the question arises, 
Were his errors sufficiently numerous and serious, unaided by 
other and greater causes, to have occasioned the failure of the 
South in the late war ? Again, conceding still more liberally 
to his assailants, were those errors the chief causes of a failure, 
which might have been avoided, despite all other adverse in- 
fluences, disadvantages, and obstacles, if a different adminis- 
trative policy had prevailed? 

The subject now has no value, save in its historical sense, 
and in that sense its value must be determined from the stand- 
point just indicated. At least it is in that aspect that we 
propose to consider it, whenever its discussion shall be appro- 
priate in these pages. The consideration will be modified by 
many collateral questions which must incidentally arise. It 
may be necessary to ask if no other Southern leader, entrusted 



AN I.^r^OIlTANT question. 285 

with great responsibilities, and enjoying uninterrupted popular 
favor, during and since the war, coniinittcd mistakes quite as 
serious and f'recpient as did the President, in proportion to the 
multiplicity of his cares? It may be appropriate, too, to con- 
sider the influence that these mistakes of others exerted upon 
those final disasters for which he alone is held responsible. 
These rpiestions we propose to consider, each in its approj)riate 
place, and with becoming candor. If we shall not meet the 
arguments and allegations employed against Mr. Davis with 
a spirit more ingenuous than has seemed to actuate his assail- 
ants, our success must be poor, indeed. 

Those who j)rofess to consider President Davis wanting in 
the necessary qualifications for his position, dwell with especial 
emj)hasis upon what they are pleased to characterize his fail- 
ui'c in tlic early months of the war, to foresee its character, 
duration and magnitude, and the consequent imperfect prepara- 
tion of the Confederate Government. It is asserted that he 
was utterly blind to all the indications of a long and obstinate 
struggle, urged upon his attention by a more sagacious states- 
manship than his own ; that he was persistent and arrogant 
in his prophecies of a struggle, short, brilliant, and over- 
whelming in favor of the South, even after the war had com- 
menced; and that before the bombardment of Sumter he was 
no less positive in his convictions that there would be no war; 
that he was, in short, stupidly unreasoning and inactive, deaf 
alike to entreaties, arguments, and facts. 

If, indeed, it could be established that during the era of 
secession (the interval between November, 1860, and April, 
18G1), Mr. Davis had cherished expectations of peaceable sepa- 
ration, and that during that portion of his presidential term 
embraced before the assault upon Sumter, relying upon this 



286 LIFE OF JEFFERSON DAVIS. 

prospect of peace, he had failed to prepare for war, then, in- 
deed, would his responsibility be great ; but it would be shared 
by every contemporary statesman of the South, almost, if not 
quite, without an exception. History may palliate the amaz- 
ing infatuation of the Southern masses at this period, but 
surely its verdict must be a contemptuous condemnation of 
that vaunted statesmanship which scouted war as the result of 
secession, as an impossibility, and its anticipation as the pro- 
duct of timidity. But President Davis is not driven to the 
extremity of seeking so poor a refuge as the common and 
universal blindness and weakness of that critical period. Re- 
cognizing the justice of that test which demands of the true 
statesman a" prescience beyond the average vision, it is believed 
that his defense may be made easy and triumphant. 

Candid investigation will demonstrate the fact that Davis, 
among Southern statesmen, was an almost solitary exception 
in his rejection of the dominant sentiment of the times. The 
remarkable consistency of his public life is in no respect better 
sustained than in his oft-repeated apprehensions of eventual 
war between the sections. His dread of disunion arose from 
his dread of civil war, and the latter he always urged to be 
the necessary consequence of the former. Striving to save the 
Union upon a just and constitutional basis, he yet habitually 
admonished the South of the inevitable result of disunion, and 
coupled his admonitions with earnest exhortations of thorough 
preparation for the most serious emergency in its history. 
His speeches, addresses, and letters, furnish irrefutable testi- 
mony of his apprehension of civil war as an inevitable con- 
comitant of disunion. Not one line, or one sentence, written or 
uttered by him in the entire period of his public career, can be so 
construed as to indicate a different conviction. Believing that 



THE FACTS OF THE CASE. 287 

he foresaw the impending conflict, he strove with indefatigable 
energy and incomparable ability, in company with Calhoun, 
in 1850, to place the South in a position which would then 
have rescued her liberties. If the warning voice of the South, 
proclaiming the inexorable decree of disunion, unless her con- 
stitutional rights were fully and forever secured, had then been 
disregarded, at least her resistance must have been more effect- 
ual than it could become by postponement. In innumerable 
passages of rare eloquence, he has left an imperishable record 
of patriotic devotion to a constitutional union, and touching 
proofs of the emotion with which he contemplated the evils 
which were to follow its destruction. The words of his fare- 
well address to the Senate, (" putting our trust in God, and in 
our firm hearts and strong arms, we will vindicate the right 
as best we may") do not more clearly indicate the calm de- 
termination with which he would meet the peril, than his 
af»preciation of its serious nature. 

When it is alleged that the inadequate preparation of the 
South, during the period which we have characterized as the 
era of secession, enters as a most important feature in the 
explanation of her failure, a proposition is boldly asserted, 
which is, at least, debatable; but its discussion does not 
devolve upon us.* Mr. Davis is assuredly not to be held 

■^ We intentionally waive the discussion of this question as to the extent 
of the preparation made by the States, severally, for actual war. It is not 
incumbent upon us here to examine the action of the individual States. 
^Vo do not desire to be understood, however, as assenting to the proposi- 
tion that all the States were inadequately prepared. It is a singular 
commentary upon the wisdom and sagacity of the leaders of secession in 
its earlier stages (by the various States), that Virginia and North Caro- 
lina were each Vjetter able to arm their troops than were some of the 
Cotton States. The latter may have made as much preparation as was 



288 LIFE OF JEFFERSON DAVIS. 

justly accountable for what the various States failed to do while 
he was at his post of duty in the Senate, and in no manner 
controlling their action. No responsibility can attach to him 
beyond the action of the Confederate Government, save in the 
case of his own State, and whatever preparation Mississippi 
made was at his instance. By what law of justice or logic 
can Mr. Davis be made accountable for the inadequate prepa- 
ration of Georgia, (assuming that Georgia was unprepared, or 
had omitted any preparation that was possible under the cir- 
cumstances), which then had the full benefit of the counsels of 
reputed statesmen like Messrs. Toombs, Stephens, and Brown? 
or of South Carolina, under the counsels of Messrs. Rhett and 
Orr, and the Charleston Mercury ? Of Alabama, led by the bril- 
liant genius of Mr. Yancey ? Yet, upon the aggregate resources 
and means of defense of these and the other States must depend 
the safety of the Confederacy. While Mr. Davis was yet in 
Washington, striving against hope to avert the dreaded issue, 
many of the States, under the guidance of their leading men, 
were passing ordinances of secession. Assuredly, then, he is 
not to be censured for any lack of preparation at this period. 
Yet no very close examination of the record is necessary to 
establish the fact, that those who have since been most forward 
in denying the prevision of statesmanship to Davis, were then, 
by their own showing, precipitating their several States into 

possible under the circumstances. When Mr. Davis reached Mississippi, 
after his withdrawal from the Senate, the Legislature had appropriated 
$150,000 for military purposes. As Major-General commanding the forces 
of the State, he was consulted as to additional appropriations. He imme- 
diately recommended an appropriation of three millions of dollars. It is 
needless to say that such a recommendation, at that period, was deemed 
little less than extravagant folly. 



MR. DAVls' UKSl'ONSIHII.lTY. 289 

secession, totally unprepared for a war, the very possibility of 
which they derided. 

The respon.sibility of Mr. Davis can date only from his in- 
auguration as President of the Confederate States, on February 
18, 1861. Between that date and the actual breaking out of 
war was an interval of less than two months. Within this 
period the results accomplished were certainly all that could 
have been anticipated, and all that ever were accomplished by 
any government yet in its infancy, within the same space of 
time. The organization of the Government had been perfected, 
efforts made to secure intercourse with foreign nations, and the 
civil administration completed in all important features. With 
the aid of that master genius for organization. General Samuel 
Cooper, Adjutant and Inspector-General of the Confederate 
army, the basis of a military organization, upon which the 
most splendid armies of modern history were speedily created, 
was prepared; troops were called into the field; and the Con- 
federacy, in proportion to its means, was actually placed, in two 
months, upon a war footing, not inferior to that of the enemy 
at the outbreak of hostilities. 

The unprejudiced Northern or European reader, whose ad- 
miration has been freely expressed for the valor and endurance 
of the South, and for the skillful use of its comparatively 
limited resources, may well be amazed at the censures of Mr. 
Davis, from Southern sources. 

But what was his error after assumption of the Presidency ? 
!More important still, what is the evidence ? So far as we have 
been able to gather the evidence, it consists in the fact that 
President Davis did not urge the indiscriminate purcluise of 
arms in Europe, or wherever else they might have been ob- 
tained. The intelligent foreign reader can only be amazed 
19 



290 LiTFE OF JEFFERSON DAVIS. 

that, upon this single fact — for it is the only fact alleged — rests 
the charge that President Davis did not make adequate prep- 
aration for war. Tlie answer is very simple, and indisputable. 
First, the Confederate Government, from the date of its organ- 
ization, endeavored constantly to purchase serviceable arms 
wherever they could be obtained. Second, the Confederate 
Government had given extensive orders to ID^orthern manu- 
factories (because they were nearest) at Chickopee and elsewhere, 
some of which were filled and the arms received, while, in 
other cases, they were seized by the Federal authorities after 
the commencement of hostilities while en route South. Third, 
there were very few serviceable arms to, be purchased in Eu- 
rope ; and in support of this assertion we have only to recall 
the enormous swindles practised on the Federal Government 
in its purchase of arms in Europe at this period. Arms were 
oifered, in some instances, to the Government, and rejected, 
because President Davis, while Secretary of War, had become 
acquainted with their worthlessness ; and thus, while certain 
speculations were disappointed, the means of the Government 
were not squandered. An examination of the records will 
demonstrate the fact that the Confederate Ordnance Bureau, 
under Colonel Gorgas, was conducted with signal judgment 
and ability. From the beginning to the end, it was managed 
with a success which entitles it to be considered probably the 
most ably conducted bureau of the Government. 

But not only do the recorded events of the period vindicate . 
Mr. Davis from the accusations of a tardy and delinquent pol- 
icy in providing for the threatened emergency of war ; they 
are fully conclusive as to the energetic provision made when 
hostilities were opened. Nothing can be more emphatic in 
its enunciation of a bold, vigorous policy than President Da- 



VIGOROUS POLICY OF PRESIDENT DAVIS. 291 

vis' message to the Confederate Congress, assembled by special 
convocation, on the 29th of April :* " There are now in the 
field at Charleston, Pensacola, Forts Morgan, Jackson, St. 
Philip, and Pulaski, nineteen thousand men, and sixteen 
thousand are now en route for Virginia. It is proposed to 
organize and hold in readiness for instant action, in view of 
the present exigencies of the country, an army of one hundred 
Viousand meny Surely we must look elsewhere than to such 
an announcement as this, for evidence in support of this pre- 
tended absence of foresight, and inappreciation of the extent 
and character of the approaching struggle. This, be it re- 
membered, was in Davis' first response to the Federal declara- 
tion of war, only tw^o weeks after the fall of Sumter, and when 
President Lincoln had, as yet, called for but seventy-five 
thousand men. This was the spirit in which President Davis 
began the contest, and the results which immediately followed, 
in months of brilliant and consecutive triumphs, demonstrated 
the ample provision made for the emergency. f 

In marked contrast with this vigorous policy were the silly 
vaporings of demagogues, prating of Southern invincibility 
against a world in arms, protesting that the North, under no 
circumstances, could be induced to fight, and scouting a longer 

* It should be observed that Mr. Lincoln did not call upon the Federal 
Congress to assemble until July 4th, two months after the meeting of the 
Confederate Congress. 

f In this connection, we quote from a remarkably faithful and careful 
chronicle of events during a portion of the war : " On the morning of 

the 29th of May, President Davis arrived in Richmond 

He found the military preparations in a state requiring instant energy, 
and, within a few hours after his arrival, he telegraphed and wrote mes- 
sages to every State in the South, urging that troops should be sent for- 
ward with increased speed." — Howisons History of the War. 



292 LIFE OF JEFFERSON DAVIS. 

duration of a war with " Yankees," than six months at the 
farthest. That such was the dominant conviction at Mont- 
gomery, no contemporary authority will deny. An eminent 
Virginian, a commissioner from his own State to the Confed- 
erate Congress, was amazed to hear laughed at as an excellent 
joke, his congratulations to that, body, upon the wise de- 
termination to locate the seat of government at Richmond, in 
close proximity to the seat of war. The grave legislators at 
Montgomery, at least, had not yet comprehended that there 
"was to be war. 

But perhaps we are in fault, in thus offering the evidence 
of uncontradicted facts and obvious conclusions, where only 
vague inferences and unsupported allegations are urged to the 
contrary. There are graver questions yet to be encountered, 
far better justifying difference of opinion, and affording better 
ground for discussion of the philosophy of the Southern fail- 
ure. Censure of those who have had the conduct of a ruined 
cause is as inevitable as the criticism which ever waits upon 
history; but it is not, therefore, always just. A great 
soldier,* who has but recently contributed a chapter to his- 
tory, thrilling in interest and inestimable in importance, when 
congratulated since upon his brilliant triumphs, touchingly 
replied : " How would it have been if success — this unexam- 
pled success — had not crowned our undertaking? Would not 
this undeserved exaltation have been so much unreasonable 
criticism and undeserved blame ? " 

To a certain class of Southern critics, we commend the 
magnanimous sentiment of an illustrious fellow-country man, f 

* General Von Molkte, who planned tlie Prussian campaign in Bo- 
hemia. 

f General Jubal A. Early. 



GENERAL EAET.y's OPINION. 293 

now mourning, in exile, the afflictions of his country: "As 
for myself, I have not undertaken to speculate as to the causes 
of our failure, as I have seen abundant reason for it in the 
tremendous odds brought against us. Having had some 
means of judging, I will, however, say that, in my opinion, 
both President Davis and General Lee, in their respective 
spheres, did all for the success of our cause which it was pos- 
sible for mortal men to do ; and it is a great privilege and 
comfort for me so to believe, and to have been able to bring 
with me, into exile, a profound love and veneration for those 
great men." 



294 LIFE OF JEFFERSON DAVIS. 



CHAPTER X. 

8HARACTERISTICS OP THE WAR IX 1861 — THE TWO GOVERNMENTS MORE DI- 
RECTLY CONNECTED WITH RESULTS IN THE FIELD THAN AT SUBSEQUENT 
PERIODS — MR. DAVIs' CONNECTION WITH THE MILITARY POLICY OF THE 
CONFEDERACY — THE CONFEDERATE GOVERNMENT ADOPTS, IN THE MAIN, THE 
DEFENSIVE POLICY OF THE VIRGINIAN AUTHORITIES — FEDERAL PREPARATIONS 
— GENERAL SCOTT — DEFENSIVE PLANS OF THE CONFEDERATES — DISTRIBUTION 
OF THEIR FORCES THE CONFEDERATE CAMPAIGN OP 1861 JUSTIFIED DIS- 
TRIBUTION OF THE FEDERAL FORCES PROGRESS OF THE CAMPAIGN GENERALS 

PATTERSON AND JOHNSTON — JUNCTION OF BEAUREGARD AND JOHNSTON — 
MANASSAS — PRESIDENT DAVIS ON THE BATTLE-FIELD — HIS DISPATCH — HIS 
KETURN TO RICHMOND — A SPEECH NEVER PUBLISHED BEFORE — REFLECTIONS 
UPON THE RESULTS OF MANASSAS — MR. DAVIS NOT RESPONSIBLE FOR THB 
ABSENCE OF PURSUIT — STONEWALL JACKSOn's VIEWS — DAVIS IN FAVOR OP 

PURSUIT OF THE FEDERALS MISREPRESENTATIONS MILITARY MOVEMENTS 

IN VARIOUS QUARTERS — THE "TRENT AFFAIR " — RESULTS OF THE FIRST 
TEAR OF THE WAR. 

"VT WHATEVER crudities may appear in the general plans 
' ' of warfare, adopted by the American belligerents in 
1861, when tested by the maxims which have obtained in 
other wars, waged upon different theatres of action, and for 
different purposes, at least there was not wanting a palpable 
and definitive shape. With remarkable rapidity and precision, 
the military situation was adjusted to the attainment of certain 
general objects, which continued, during the successive stages 
of the war, to be pursued, with varying fortune, by the re- 
spective contestants. 

The incipient campaign of the war was peculiarly regulated 



DAVIS' CONNECTION WITH MILITARY OPERATIONS. 295 

and deterniined by the paramount aims which had impelled 
the respective parties to arms. Of necessity, the campaign, on 
the part of the North, nmst be offensive, while the South, in 
a defensive attitude, must prepare to parry the blows of her 
assailant. The pretext of the North was to assert the " na- 
tional authority" over what it was pleased to term "rebellious" 
territory. The animus of the South was to repel an invasion 
which menaced her liberties and firesides. "Whatever advan- 
tages may have belonged to the position of the South were not 
overlooked by those who were charged with her defense; and 
it may safely be claimed, in view of the immediate and over- 
whelming result in her favor, that whatever compensation, for 
obvious disadvantages, she had anticipated from the resources 
of skillful leadership, was fairly rendered. 

The two Governments, at AVashington and at Richmond, 
were then more directly chargeable with the actual results in 
the field than at subsequent periods. The army had then 
become less independent of the Government. Its organic 
structure was undeveloped, and it had not yet become identi- 
fied with those commanders whose history was hereafter to be 
so interwoven with its own. In a general sense, it may h» 
remarked, that the connection of President Davis with all the 
campaigns of the Confederate arniy, was that which the country 
designed it should be, when, in consequence of his military 
aptitude and experience, it placed him in charge of the public 
administration. Moreover, it was consistent with that inevi- 
table responsibility which attached to the office of chief execu- 
tive. Ignorant and intemperate partisans have labored to 
prove his responsibility for those casualties of war, -wliieh are 
utterly beyond human calculations, and to trace to his influence 
disasters of the battle-field, with which he could by no possi- 



296 LIFE OF JEFFERSOX DAVIS. 

bility have been connected. As is usual in such cases, these 
criticisms are made with a total forgetfalness of the uninten- 
tional tribute, which is accorded to Mr. Davis, in ascribing to 
him the chief responsibility for a military administration, which 
the world declares to have had few parallels in its history. 

When President Davis reached Richmond, from Montgom- 
ery, the military situation had already assumed a well-defined 
shape. The plans of defense, adopted by the Virginian au- 
thorities, mainly under the direction of General Lee, and car- 
ried into partial execution before the alliance with the Confed- 
eracy had been formally consummated, were adhered to by the 
Confederate Government. President Davis, as we have seen, 
fully impressed with the demands of the exigency, immediately 
upon his arrival, addressed himself, with characteristic vigor 
and promptitude, to such measures as would secure a successful 
campaign. In the meantime, the preparations of the Federal 
Government were equally vigorous, and by no means indefinite 
in their aims. 

Whatever may be the comparative merits, when placed in 
antithetical juxtaposition, of the plans of campaign adopted by 
|he two Governments in 1861, or whatever may be alleged of 
the blunders and mishaps of the Federal scheme of warfare, 
there could be no question of the full comprehension of the 
necessities of the situation by the veteran commander of the 
Federal armies. We are not called upon here to give an 
opinion of General Scott in his personal or political relations, 
but that combination of sagacious military minds, upon which 
devolved the defense of Southern liberties, was not likely to 
commit the error of a disparaging estimate of his abilities. 

General Scott, far in advance of the prevailing opinion at 
the North, dreamed of no holiday enterprise. He -svell knew 



DEFENSIVE ATTITUDE OF THE COXFEDERACY. 297 

that Southern valor, directed by leaders whose names were 
idontilied with the proudest prestige of America, and enlisted 
in the defense of principles which were the dearest convictions 
and traditions of the Southern heart, was not to be crushed in 
a " three-months' " wrestle of arms. Accordingly, his prepara- 
tions were for war in its broadest and most terrible sense; a 
war between powerful nationalities; a war in which, though 
sustained by inexhaustible resources and popular enthusiasm, 
he had yet to contend with a race essentially military in its 
instincts, earnest in conviction, led by men whose capacities he 
had amply tested, and aided by defensive position, vast extent 
of territory, and by those numerous obstacles in the way of 
conquest, which must have been apparent to the eye of an 
experienced soldier. 

The attitude of the Confederate Government was necessarily 
defensive. History would be searched in vain for examples 
justifying an invasion by a people entirely agricultural in 
habits and resources, weak in numbers, and with a govern- 
ment not yet organized three months, of a powerful manufac- 
turing and commercial nation, of dense population, and great 
wealth and resources. Without supplies, equijiment and trans- 
portation, and without the time or opportunity to obtain them, 
successful invasion of the North, however attractive to the 
popular imagination, was clearly impossible. Viewed from 
the more educated stand-point, furnished by the later develop- 
ments of the war, the crude ideas, from which arose the popu- 
lar aspiration of at once "carrying the war into Africa," are 
ludicrous in the extreme. Indeed, there can be little doubt 
that the defensive, subjected to such modifications as the casual- 
ties of war render proper and necessary in all plans, whether 
ofi'ensive or defensive, was at all times the true policy of the 



298 LIFE OF JEFFEESON DAVIS. 

South. Certain it is, that, upon two occasions, essaying the 
oiFensive under the most favorable circumstances, and under 
their greatest commander, the Confederates were overtaken by 
disaster. Tliere can be no just criterion, furnished by Euro- 
pean wars, by which to test the Confederate military policy in 
the main. Parallels between the American civil war and those 
waged by Frederick the Great and Napoleon are inadmissable. 
Not only were circumstances entirely dissimilar, but able mili- 
tary critics have indicated physical peculiarities, forbidding the 
unexceptional application to American warfare, of maxims 
which, elsewhere, are undisputed. 

Nevertheless, war as a science must be worse than useless, 
unless its underlying principles have universal application. 
Nor is it maintained that there were no circumstances which 
would have justified a departure from the usually defensive 
policy of the Confederates. Upon two occasions the main 
army of the South, having successfully encountered upon its 
own soil the most prodigious efforts of the enemy's strength, 
sought to follow him in the moment of his recoil. The Con- 
federate invasion of 1862, culminating at Antietam, and that 
of 1863, culminating at Gettysburg, were undertaken with the 
purpose of destroying, upon his own soil, an enemy already 
defeated. Each of these endeavors was based upon sound 
principles; and there is no little palliation for the disaster, in 
either case, in reflecting how great would have been the results 
of success. Much of the philosophy of the war in Virginia is 
to be explained by the fact of the thoroughly aggressive char- 
acter, as soldiers, of President Davis and General Lee. These 
two directing minds, by whose combined genius and will, the 
fortunes of the Confederacy were so long upheld, in full and 
cordial cooperation during the entire war, were in nothing 



DISTRIBUTION OF TUE CONFEDERATE FORCES. 299 

more harmonious, than in the desire for an aggressive cam- 
paign, whenever it could be undertaken with a reasonable 
promise of success. Hence, the history of the army of North- 
ern Virginia develops, throughout, that military policy which 
is known as the "defensive with ofiensive returns." 

After the conclusion of the alliance between Virginia and 
the Confederate States, which placed all "military opera- 
tions, offensive and defensive, in Virginia," under the control 
of the Confederate President, troops from the other SoutL- 
ern States had been thrown northward with astonishing 
rapidity. As rapidly as they arrived, regiments were sent to 
the various localities where it had been thought expedient to 
establish a defensive force. These posts were distributed with 
a view to their strategic bearing upon particular sections of 
territory, which it was deemed necessary to defend, and also 
"with reference to their strategic connection with each other, 
and with the chain of combinations making the general plan 
of defense. 

In the early summer, the distribution of the Southern forces 
in Virginia was as follows : At Manassas Junction, thirty-five 
miles south-west from Washington, and the point of intersec- 
tion of the lines of railroad running southward to Ilichmond, 
and to the Shenandoah Valley, was a force, to the command 
of which General Beauregard was transferred from the charge 
of the defenses of Charleston. Manassas Junction was ob- 
viously a strategic point of the first importance, as the centre 
of the railroad system of Northern Virginia, and as a base of 
operations threatening Washington, and immediately across 
the path of any overland expedition against Richmond. The 
favorable estimate of General Beauregard's abilities enter- 
tained by the President, added to the popularity which fol- 



300 LIFE OF JEFFEESOX DAVIS. 

lowed his services at Charleston, occasioned his assignment to 
what was obviously to be the most important theatre of 
operations. 

Auxiliary to the command of Beauregard, but operating 
independently of that officer, Avas a force at Harper's Ferry, 
on tlie Potomac, commanded by General Joseph E. Johnston, 
an officer of reputed skill, who had earned honorable distinc- 
tion in Mexico, and enjoyed high rank and reputation in the 
Federal service. This force had a mission second in value 
only to that of the army at Manassas. It was charged with 
the defense of the rich and populous Shenandoah Valley, teem- 
ing with supplies, and inhabited by a hardy and patriotic 
population. Its position was intermediate between the forces 
operating in Western Virginia, and those in front of Wash- 
ington, and threatening to the enemy's line of communication 
westward via the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad. 

In Western Virginia were the commands of Generals Wise 
and Garnett, respectively, in the Kanawha Valley, and upon 
the main line of communication between the sections east and 
west of the Alleghany mountains. The forces of Wise and 
Garnett were designed for the double purpose of defending the 
sections of territory in which they were respectively located, 
and for the aid and encouragement of the patriotic portion of 
the population, then under the joint domination of the Union 
men and Federal soldiers. 

Under Magruder, promoted for his victory at Bethel, was a 
comparatively small force, holding the peninsula of James 
and York Rivers, the direct route to Richmond from the 
coast ; and at Norfolk were several thousand men, under com- 
mand of General Hu^er. 

No very acute analysis is required to penetrate the motives 



OBJECTS OF THESE DISPOSITIONS. 301 

of this distribution of forces in the face of the plain necessities of 
the situation. Yet a vast amount of conceit has been expended 
in glittering verbiage, aiming to exhibit the early partiality 
of President Davis for the weak policy of dispersion, and that 
aversion to the "concentration" of troops, for overwhelming 
victories, to be followed by decisive results, which, it is al- 
leged, adhered to his military policy to the last. To this cant 
about "concentration," a sufficient answer relative to this dispo- 
sition of troops is, that it has the sanction of Lee's great name, 
to say nothing of the complete success that followed it. There 
was no phase of the situation, either then or for months after- 
ward, which could have justified for any result, then attainable 
by "concentration," the surrendering to the enemy of vast sec- 
tions of country, which, then and subsequently, fed the army 
and supplied thousands of soldiers. Popular confidence, so 
indispensable to a government under such circumstances, Mas 
not to be won by such a policy, at the very incipiency of the 
contest. Were the patriots of Western Virginia, thousands 
of whom made heroic sacrifices, to be abandoned without an 
effort for their rescue ? Magruder and Huger, too, had duties 
of no insignificant character to perform. Fortress Moni'oe, 
commanding the tributaries of the Chesapeake — the avenues' 
leading to the very heart of Virginia, to the doors of Rich- 
mond, and the rear of the armies upon the northern borders — 
presented, during the entire war, an insuperable difficulty in 
the defense of Virginia. More than once it was the impreg- 
nable asylum for discomfited Federal hosts ; and as a base of 
operations for the enemy, there was no period of the war when 
it did not challenge a vigilant observation from Richmond. 
To the efficient, bold, and skillful defense of the peninsula, by 
Magruder, the Confederate capital owed its safety for twelve 



302 LIFE OF JEFFERSON DAVIS. 

months, not less than to the successful defense made upon the 
Potomac border. Dependent upon the command of Huger 
was the defense, not only of Norfolk and Portsmouth, but of 
an extensive back country, besides the naval defenses then in 
preparation at Gosport. 

But in addition to these important objects, is to be remem- 
bered the inexperience of both officers and men, totally dis- 
qualifying them for those prompt and vigorous movements 
for which they were subsequently distinguished. Discipline 
and organization were yet to be supplied. The army at 
Manassas in July, 1861, at Centreville, in the ensuing autumn, 
or even in front of Richmond, in the summer of 1862, was 
altogether a different instrument from that compact force, 
which the genius of Lee had welded, when he threw it, with 
crushing impetus, upon the columns of Hooker at Chancel- 
lorsville. But, after all, as will be abundantly exhibited 
hereafter, concentration was preeminently the characteristic of 
the Confederate military policy. Especially did the present 
campaign, in all its parts, hinge upon the successful execution 
of this principle. 

Confronting the command of Beauregard, at Manassas, was 
a considerable Federal army, under General McDowell, cover- 
ing Washington, and threatening an advance along the line of 
the Orange and Alexandria and Virginia Central Railroads. 
Under General Patterson another large Federal force confronted 
General Johnston, and threatened the Shenandoah Valley. 
General McClellan, with a force greatly outnumbering the 
small commands opposed to him, operated in Western Vir- 
ginia — the common name of the section of country embraced 
between the Ohio and Cheat Rivers, and the Baltimore and 
Ohio Railroad and the Great Kanawha and Gauley Rivers. 



STEATEGIC DESIGNS. 303 

A heavy force at Fortress Monroe, threatening, with incursions, 
the entire tide-water section of the State, sufficiently occupied 
the commands of Magruder and Huger. 

The Confederate plan of campaign, approved in the early 
summer, in its leading features was adhered to with perti- 
nacity and success. This plan, jointly approved by the Gov- 
ernment and the two commanders upon whom its execution 
devolved, contemplated defensive operations, and the union, 
at the critical moment, of the forces of Beauregard and John- 
ston, for the destruction of McDowell's command, whenever it 
should begin its march southward. President Davis and Gen- 
eral Lee, at Richmond, were in regular communication with 
the two commanders in the field, and all operations were 
directed with a view to the destruction of the main body of 
the enemy. < 

General Scott, upon the Federal side, also looked to the co- 
operation of Patterson with McDowell, and expected him either 
to defeat Johnston, or to so employ him as to prevent his re- 
inforcement of Beauregard, when the latter should be assailed 
by the overwhelming force of McDowell. The remoteness 
of Magruder and Huger, and the impossibility of sufficient 
secrecy in the transfer of any portion of their commands to 
the theatre of operations, placed them outside of the calcula- 
tion. The same may be said of the Confederate forces in 
Western Virginia. Apprehension of danger from the com- 
mand of McClellan was experienced by the Confederate au- 
thorities, especially after the disastrous defeat of General Gar- 
nett. There can be little doubt, however, that the Government 
and people of the North considered their army, immediately 
upon the ground, ample for the contemplated work, and did 
not feel the necessity of looking elsewhere for reinforcements. 



304 LIFE OF JEFFERSON DAVIS. 

The small force at Manassas, when General Beauregard as- 
sumed command, was increased by subsequent accessions, until, 
b}^ the niiddle of July, it numbered about twenty thousand 
men. His duties wei-e a vigilant observation of the enemy 
and such defensive preparations as were necessary. The pivot 
of the campaign was elsewhere. If Patterson could success- 
fully occupy Johnston until the crisis at Manassas was passed, 
the result was doubtful, at least ; but if Johnston, at the re- 
quired moment, could elude his adversary, and reinforce Beau- 
regard, the probabilities were most promising to the Confed- 
erates. In the sequel, this proved a result far more easily 
attained than had been hoped for. The camjiaign thus be- 
came a series of maneuvres, with the Confederates in posses- 
sion of the decided advantage of an interior line. 

General Patterson, apparently imbcpile or bewildered, com- 
mitted a series of blunders, to be accounted for upon no pos- 
sible hypothesis accrediting to him even ordinary acquaintance 
with the palpable principles of the science of war. What his 
repeated advances, retreats, and flank movements could have 
been designed to accomplish, it is difficult to imagine, as his 
situation plainly prevented his escape from Johnston and rein- 
forcement of McDowell, before Johnston could reach Beaure- 
gard. General Patterson's failure to attack Johnston pre- 
ordained the disaster to McDowell on tlie 21st of July. 
Johnston, aided by the vigilance and daring of the " indefati- 
gable " Stuart, was fully apprised of every movement of his 
adversary. With comparatively little difficulty he escaped 
from his front, and, in accordance with the plan previously 
indicated, reinforced Beauregard with the greater portion of 
his force. 

With the details of the overwhelming disaster to the Feb- 



BATTLE OF MAXA.SBAS. 305 

oral nnns, at INIanassas, on the 21st of July, \vc are not here 
interested. Our aim lias been to glance briefly at the relations 
sustained by President Davis to the preliminary campaign 
\vhieh culminated in success so brilliant and valuable. lu 
aec<n*dance with his preconceived purpose to be present, if 
p()ssil)l(>, at the consummation of plans in which he fit 
so profound an interest, President Davis left Richmond on 
Sunday mornini::, July 21st, for the scene of the expected 
battle. Peaching the battle-field while the struggle was 
still in progress, it was his privilege; to witness the Hight, in 
utter confusion aud dismay, of the Federal hosts in their lirst 
serious conflict with the patrit)t army. Ilis presence upon the 
field was the inspiration of unbounded enthusiasm among the 
troops, to whom his name and bearing were the symbols of 
victory. His dispatch from the battle-field, on Sunday night, 
Avill long b(! remembered by those who gathered from it their 
first intelligence of the great victory: 

" Maxassas .Tcn'ctiox, Sunday Night. 
" Night ha'5 closo<l upon a hard-fought field. Our forces were 
victorious. The enemy were routed, and precipitately fled, aban- 
doning a large amount of arms, knnpsacks, and baggnge. Tlie 
ground was strewn for miles with those killed, and the farm- 
houses and ground around were filled with the; wounded. Pursuit 
was continued along several routes towards Lcesburg aud Ccntre- 
villo, until darkness covered the fugitives. We have caj)tured 
many field batteries and stands of arms, and one of the United 
States flags. Many prisoners have been taken. Too high praise 
f;in not be bestowed, whether for the skill of the principal ofiTuers, 
nr the gallantry of all our troops. The battle was mainly fought 
!i our left. Our force was 15,000; that of the enemy estimated 
at 35,000. Jeff'.n Davis." 

20 



306 LIFE OF JEFFERSON DAVIS. 

Ho remained at Manassas, in consultation with Generals 
Beauregard and Johnston, until the morning of Tuesday, July 
23J. The return of the President to Richmond was the oc- 
casion of renewed patriotic rejoicings. An immense crowd 
awaited at the railroad depot, in expectancy of his arrival, 
and both there ami at his hotel occurred most enthusiastic 
demonstrations of popular delight at the success of the army, 
and of public regard for himself.* At night Mr. Davis ad- 
dre^s'^d, with thrilling effect, an immense audience, from a 
window of the Spottswood Hotel, recounting some of the in- 

*The speech made by Mr. Davis at the depot of the Virginia Central 
Raih'oad was not reported in the nowppapers. The writer, in company 
with two friends, was in the crowd which greeted the return of Mr. Davis 
to the capital, and such was the effect of the scene and the glowing words 
of tlie speaker, that neither can ever he forgotten. A few hours subse- 
quently to the scene at the' depot, the words, as given below, were re- 
peated, in the presence of several jjersons who heard Mr. Davis, and were 
pronounced by them the identical language used by him. They were 
preserved in writing, and are now published for the first time. Apart 
from its historical interest, the speech is a remarkable specimen of 
spontaneous, sententious eloquence, eminently appropriate to the oc- 
casion : 

^^Fellow-citizens of the Covfederatc States : 

" I rejoice with you, this evening, in those better and happier feelings 
which Ave all experience, as compared with the anxiety of three days ago. 
Your little army — derided for its want of numljers — derided for its want 
of arms — derided for its lack of all the essential material of war — lias 
met the grand army of the enemy, routed it at every point, and it now 
flies, in inglorious retreat, before our victorious columns. We have 
taught them a lesson in their invasion of the sacred soil of Virginia; wo 
have taught them that the grand old mother of Washington still nurtures 
a band of heroes ; and a yet bloodier and far more fatal lesson awaits 
them, unless they speedily acknowledge that freedom to which you were 
boru." 



RESULTS OF THE VICTORY. 307 

cidents of the buttle, which he declared to be a decisive victory, 
if followed by energetic measures, * and counseled moderation 
and forbearance in victory, with unrelaxed preparations ibr 
future trials. It was upon this occasion that he uttered tlie 
memorable injunction, " Never be haughty to the humble, or 
humble to the haughty." 

The immediate and palpable consequence of the victory of Man- 
assas was the rescue of the Confederacy from the peril by wliich, 
for weeks, it had been threatened. Tlie South was now plainly a 
power, capable of fighting ably and vigorously, and with greatly 
improved prospects of success, for the independence which it 
had asserted. Time was to develop a far greater value in this 
wonderful success than was then made available. A few days 
only were required to exhibit, what at first appeared merely a 
thorough repulse of the Federal army, as an overwhelming 
rout, capable of being followed to such results as might have 
changed even the fate of a nation. Not many weeks sufficed 
to convince the Southern people of the fact which must ever 
dwell among their saddest associations, that an opportunity, in- 
estimable in value, and almost unparalleled in its flattering 
inducements to a people situated as they were, had been ut- 
terly unappreciated and irrevocably lost. 

In the numerous accounts which have been written, repre- 
senting all shades of opinion from different stand-points on 
both sides, and from the wide discussion which has resulted, 
history can be at no loss for material upon whicli to base an 
intelligent estimate of this battle, and of the extent to which 
the victors reaped the advantages of success. Differences of 
0])inion have prevailed, and will, in all probability, continue 
to prevail, respecting the purely military questions involved 
in the discussion of the absence of such a vigorous, porti- 



308 LTFE OF JEFFERSON DAVIS. 

nacion?, and unrelenting pursuit by the Confederates as was 
necessary to secure the fruits of a decisive victory. But the 
stubborn conviction, nevertheless, remains, and will never be 
eradicated from the Southern mind — that, barring the imme- 
diate security to the Confederate capital, Manassas was but a 
barren victory, where results of a most decisive character were 
within easy reach. Nor is this popular impression unsus- 
tained by such competent military authority, as will command 
respect for its judgment, upon those aspects of the question, 
upon which a military judgment is alone valuable. 

So emphatic became the public condemnation of the inac- 
tivity of the army, and especially when, by subsequent infor- 
mation, was revealed the real condition of the enemy after his 
overwhelming disaster, that inquiry was naturally made as to 
the authorship of such an erroneous policy. The presence of 
President Davis, both during a portion of the battle and dur- 
ing the day following, was promptly seized upon as affording 
a clue to the mystery. For months he rested under the sus- 
picion of having, by peremptory order, stopped the pursuit of 
the enemy, in the face of the protestations of his generals, who 
would have pressed it to the extent of attainable results. 

How such an impression — so utterly in conflict with the facts — 
could have obtained, by whom, or for what purpose it was 
disseminated, it is now needless to inquire. The slander was, 
at length, after having been circulated to the injury of Mr. 
Davis throughout the country, so conclusively answered as to 
receive not even the pi'etense of belief, save from an unscrup- 
ulous partisanship, at all times deaf to facts which could not 
be perverted injuriously to the President. It nevertheless had 
served a purpose, in preparing the popular mind for those con- 
stantly iterated charges of " executive interference," in the 



MISREPRESENTATIONS REFUTED. 309 

plans and dispositions of the armies of the Confederacy, which 
foUowed at subsequent stages of the war. 

It may be asked, Why did Mr. Davis suffer this suspicion, 
when the proof of its injustice might have been so easily ad- 
duced? This inquiry would indicate an imperfect acquaint- 
ance with that devoted patriotism and knightly magnanimity 
which belong to his character. Any explanation acquitting 
himself, must have thrown the responsibility upon Generals 
Johnston and Beauregard, and he preferred rather to suffer an 
undeserved reproach, than to excite distrust of two officers, 
then enjoying the largest degree of popular confidence. With 
him, selfish considerations were never permitted to outweigh 
the interests of the country. Actuated by this impulse, he, in 
more than one instance, where the names of men high in pub- 
lic favor were used in his disparagement, refused, even in self- 
defense, that retaliation, which must have hurt the cause in 
proportion as it diminished confidence in its prominent repre- 
sentatives. Mr. Davis, with that decorum which has equally 
illustrated his public and private life, recognized the special 
propriety of a denial of these injurious rumors from other 
sources, fully apprized of their falsity, and fi-om which such 
an acquittal of himself M'ould have come with becoming can- 
dor and grace. 

Justice, proverbially slow, has been tardy indeed in its 
awards to Mr. Davis; but in this instance, as it must inevi- 
tably in others, it has come time enough for liis historical 
vindication. The reader, unitiformed as to the merits of this 
question, will be content with a limited statement from the 
mass of testimony, which has ultimately acquitted Mr. Davis 
of having prevented the pureuit of the Federal army after its 
overthrow upon the field of Manasscs. In a publication, pre- 



310 LIFE OF JEFFERSON DAVIS. 

senting an elaborate indictment against Mr. Davis, as the main 
instrument of the downfall of the Confederacy, written since 
the war, is found the following admission : " As is known, lie 
(President Davis) was at Manasses the evening of the 21st 
July, 1861. Until a late hour that night he was engaged 
with Generals Johnston and Beauregard, at the quarters of 
the latter, in discussing the momentous achievements of the 
day, the extent of which was not as yet recognized at all by 
him or his generals. Much gratified with knowm results, 
his bearing was eminently proper. He certainly expressed no 
opposition to any forward movement; nor at the time dis- 
played a disposition to interpose his opinion or authority 
touching operations and plans of campaign."* 

General Johnston, in a communication published since the 
w^ar, assumes the responsibility of the failure to pursue, and, 
with the advantage of retrospect, defends that course with co- 
gent reasoning and an interesting statement of facts. Says 
General Johnston: "'The substantial fruit' of this victory 
was the preservation of the Confederacy. No more could have 
been hoped for. The pursuit of the enemy was not continued 
because our cavalry (a very small force) was driven back by 
the 'solid resistance' of the .United States infantry. Its rear- 
guard was an entire division, which had not been engaged, and 
was twelve or fifteeen times more numerous than our two little 
bodies of cavalry. The infantry was not required to continue 
the pursuit, because it would have been harassing it to no 
purpose. It is well known that infmtry, unencumbered by 
baggage trains, can easily escape pursuing cavalry." 

That no farther results were to be hoped for than the arrest 
of the Federal advance toward Richmond, he endeavors to de- 
* The Harper s Magazine article of General Jordan. 



GENERAL. JOIIXSTOX's STATEMENTS. 311 

monstrate as follows: "A movement upon Washington was 
out of the question. "We could not have carried the intrcnch- 
ments by assault, and had none of the means to besiege them. 
Our assault would have been repulsed, and ti)e enemy, then 
become the victorious party, would have resumed tlieir march 
to Richmond; but if we had captured the intrenehments, a 
river, a mile wide, lay between tliem and Washington, com- 
manded by the guns of a Federal fleet. If we had taken 
Alexandria, which stands on low and level ground, those guns 
would have driven us out in a few hours, at the same time 
killing our friends, the inhabitants. We could not cross the 
Potomac, and therefore it was impracticable to conquer the 
hostile capital, or emancipate oppressed Maryland." 

But these statements, ample, as far as they go, in the vindi- 
cation of jNIr. Davis, only partially tell the story of Manassas. 
They do not fully describe his real relation to the question, 
though we are far from imputing to General Johnston an in- 
tentional omission. A statement of Mr. Davis' views was not 
necessarily germane to General Johnston's explanation of his 
own conduct. His purpose is to establish the reasons which 
induced him to decline pursuit of the enemy, or rather, which, 
in his judgment, made pursuit impracticable. Nor is it 
germane to our purpose to discuss these reasons; to attempt 
either a demonstration of their fallacy or an argument in their 
support. They have not been accepted as conclusive either by 
the public, or by unanimous military judgment. 

The great name of Stonewall Jackson, himself an actor 
in the most thrilling scenes of that wonderful triumph of 
Southern valor, and dating from that day his record upon the 
" bead-roll of fame," is authoritatively given in opposition to 
the policy which General Johnston approves. In this connec- 



312 LIFE OF JEFFEESOX DAVIS. 

tion, we can not forbear to quote the biographer of that illus- 
trious man, in passages showing tliat wondrous intuition of 
great soldiership, more distinctive, perhaps, of Jackson, than 
of any commander of the present century, excepting only Na- 
poleon. Professor Dabney says: "Jackson, describing the 
manifest rout of the enemy, remarked to the physicians, that 
he believed ' with ten thousand fresh men he could go into the 
city of Washington.' " Again, after a most graphic picture of 
the condition of the Federal army, its demoralization, panic, 
and utter incapacity to meet an attack by the victorious Con- 
federates, and an able statement of the inducements to a vig- 
orous pursuit, the biographer of General Jackson makes this 
impressive statement: "With tliese views of the campaign,^ 
General Jackson earnestly concurred. His sense of official 
propriety sealed his lips; and when the more impatient spirits 
inquired, day after day, why they were not led after the 
enemy, his only answer was to say : ' That is the affair of the 
commanding generals.' But to his confidential friends he 
afterward declared, when no longer under the orders of those 
officers, that their inaction was a deplorable blunder; and this 
opinion he was subsequently accustomed to assert with a 
warmth and emphasis unusual in his guarded manner."* 

Mr. Davis was far from approving the inaction which fol- 
lowed Manassas. He confidently expected a diffi^rent use of 
the victory. When called away by the pressing nature of his 
official duties at Richmond, he left the army with a heart 
elastic with hope, at what he considered the certainty of even 

* The Federal official reports are overwhelminiily in confirmation of 
these vie-\vs of General Jackson. General ]\IcClellan stated that " in no 
quarter were the dispositions for defense such as to offer resistance to a 
respectable body of the enemy." 



DAVIS FAVORS PURSUIT. 313 

more glorious and valuable achievements. His speech at the 
depot iu Richmond, which we have given elsewhere, is evi- 
dence of his exultant anticipations. The speech at the Spotts- 
wood, entering more into detiiils, still better authenticates his 
hopes of" an immediate and successful advance.* There could 
be no misinterpretation of the ardor with wiiich, in "glowing 
sentences, lie })redicted the immediate and consecutive tri- 
umphs of what he proudly termed the "gallant little army." 

Indeed, before leaving Manassas, President Davis favored 
the most vigorous pursuit practicable. On the evening of the 
battle, while the victory was assured, but by no means com- 
plete, he urged that the enemy, still on the field, (Heintzcl- 
man's troops, as subsequently ajjpearcd,) be warmly pressed, as 
was successfully done. During the night following the en- 
gagement he made a disposition of a portion of the troops, 
with a view to an advance in the morning. These troops were 
removed, but not by himself, to meet an apprehended attack 
upon the head-quarters of the army. An advance on Monday, 
the 22d July, was out of the question, in consequence of the 
heavy rain. 

It is not to be understood that President Davis fully ap- 
preciated, on Sunday night, the 21st, the overwhelming rout 
of the Federal army, nor that he advocated, as practicable, an 
immediate movement in pursuit, by the entire army. No one 
could have anticipated the utter disorganization attending the 
flight of the Federals. He had, too, positive evidence of the 
confusion prevailing among portions of the Southern troops. 

*The writer heard thia speech of Mr. Davis, and his recollection is 
positive of the encouragement extended by the President to the hope of 
an immediate forward movement. The recollection of the author of ''The 
Diary of a Rebel War Clerk" scorns to be substantially the same. 



314 LIFE OF JEFFERSON DAVIS. 

Summoned by a message from a youthful connection, who was 
mortally wounded, IMr. Davis rode over a large portion of the 
field, in a vain search for the regiment to which the young 
man was attached. Upon his return, he accidentally met an 
officer who directed him to the locality of the regiment, where 
he found the corpse of his relative. The evidences of disor- 
ganization, upon which General Johnston dwells with so much 
force and emphasis, were indeed palpable, but Mr! Davis con- 
fidently believed that an efficient pursuit might be made by 
such commands as were in comparatively good condition. 
Such were his impressions then, and that he contemplated 
immediate activity as the sequel of Manassas, is a matter of 
indisputable record. 

That Mr. Davis did not insist upon th.e undeferred execu- 
tion of his own views, is proof less of his approval of the 
course pursued, than of an absence of that pragmatic disposi- 
tion with which he was afterwards so persistently charged. 
His subsequent hearty tributes to Beauregard and Johnston, 
and prompt recognition of their services, show how far he was 
elevated above that mean intolerance, which would have made 
him incapable of according merit to the opinions and actions 
of others, wdien averse to his own conclusions. 

This determined spirit of misrepresentation of the motives 
and conduct of the President, beginning thus early — respecting 
the origin of which we shall have more to say hereafter — was 
to prove productive of the most serious embarrassments to the 
Confederate cause. The first great success in arms achieved 
by the South, was to originate questions tending to excite dis- 
trust in the capacity of the Executive, and subsequently dis- 
trust of his treatment of those who were under his authority. 
Misrepresentation was not to cease with the attempt already 



TRIVIAL ACCUSATIONS. 315 

mentioned to impair public confidence in Mr. Davis. A prag- 
matic interference with the plans of his generals was persistently- 
charged upon him. The almost uninterrupted inactivity of the 
main army in Virginia, following the battle of Manassas, by 
which the enemy was permitted, without molestation, to or- 
ganize a new army — a subject of constant and exasperated 
censure by the public — was falsely attributed to Mr. Davis' 
interference with Generals Johnston and Beauregard. It is a 
sad evidence of the license characteristic of a purely partisan 
criticism, that this falsely alleged interference has even been 
ascribed to the instigations of a mean envy of the popularity 
of those officers. 

The purely personal differences of public men are not the 
proper subject-matter of historical discussion. In the prose- 
cution of our endeavor to give an intelligent and candid 
narrative of the events of the war, in so far as President Davis 
was connected with them, we shall have occasion to dwell upon 
those difPerences between himself and others respecting im- 
portant questions of policy which are known to have existed. 
We do not see that the personal relations of President Davis 
with Generals Johnston and Beauregard, are here a subject of 
appropriate inquiry. Nor are those minor questions of detail 
as to the organization of the army, which arose between them, 
of such significance as to justify elaborate discussion here. 
That President Davis chose to exercise those plain privileges 
with which the Constitution invested him; that he should 
have consulted that military knowledge which his education 
and service had taught him ; that he should make available 
his valuable experience as Minister of War; and that he should 
have failed to interpret the acts of Congress agreeablv to the 
tastes of generals in the field, rather than according to his 



316 LIFE OF JEFFERSON DAVIS. 

own judgment, is certainly singular evidence upon wliich to 
base charges of " pragmatism/' " persecution/' and " envy " 
of those generals.* 



* One evidence of this "persecution" would appear to consist in the fact 
that the President, having rekictantly commissioned Generals Lovell and 
G. W. Smith, upon the recommendations of Generals Beauregard and 
Johnston, chose also to commission, at the same time, with a similar 
rank, General Van Dorn, giving the latter a senior commission. Smith 
and Lovell had but recently come to the South, both being residents of 
New York, before the war, while Van Dorn had promptly sought service 
in the Confederate army before hostilities commenced, had done excellent 
service, and been constantly in front of the enemy. Another proof of 
" persecution " is that the President refused to permit such an organ- 
ization of the army as he believed to be in conflict with the laws of 
Congress. 

The commonly assigned origin of the difference between President 
Davis and General Beauregard, which gave rise to so much scandal and 
falsehood during the war, was the suppression of the preliminary por- 
tion of General B.'s report of the battle of Manassas. The correct 
version of that matter is now well known. President Davis did not 
suppress any portion of Beauregard's report. He did object to cer- 
tain preliminary statements of the report, and requested that they should 
be altered or omitted. When this was declined, the President sent the 
report to Congress, accompanied by an indoi-sement of his own, correct- 
ing what he conceived to be errors. General Beauregard's friends in 
Congress, unwilling that these comments of the President should be 
published, suppressed both the objectionable passages and the executive 
indorsement. So that they, and not the President, occasioned that 
"suppression," from which arose much gossip and mystery. A sufficient 
answer to these charges of personal antagonism by the President to these 
two officers, should be the fact that he retained them in command of the 
two largest armies of the Confederacy, until relinquished by them, in the 
one case, because of sickness, and in the other, in consequence of a wound 
which caused disability. 



M'CLELLAN's victory in western VIRGINIA. 317 

While the ni:un struggle in Virginia was yet undecided, the 
Confederate force, under General Garnett, in Western Vir- 
ginia, had been disastrously defeated by the Federal army of 
General McClellan. The Confederate commander, a brave 
and promising officer, was killed, in a gallant endeavor to 
protect the retreat of his command. This achievement of Gen- 
eral McClellan, though attributable mainly to his vastly superior 
force, M'as attended by evidences of skill, which indicated him 
as a prominent figure in the events of the immediate future. 
In the midst of the gloom and disappointment consequent 
upon the disaster at Manassas, General McClellan appeared to 
the Northern Government and masses to be an officer specially 
recommended, by his late success, for the important charge of 
the army designed to protect the capital. He was imme- 
diately summoned to Washington, and placed in charge of its 
defenses. With rare capacity for general military administra- 
tion, and with especial aptitude for organization, General 
McClellan addressed himself with vigor and success to the 
work assigned him. Under his direction, the defenses of 
Washington were speedily put in admirable condition, and 
within a few months, he had created an army which, in disci- 
pline, organization, and equipment, would have compared 
favorably with the best armies of the world. 

General ^McClellan was too sagacious and prudent a com- 
mander to repeat the errors of his predecessor. He was evi- 
(Icntly determined not to undertake an aggressive campaign 
until his preparations were completed. During the progress 
of those preparations, he endeavored also to provide against 
those aggressive movements which he evidently anticipated 
fi-om his adversaries. But the autumn and winter were to 
piiss away without any serious demonstration by the Confeder- 



318 LIFE OF JEFFICRSON DAVIS, 

ate commanders, and with but one important movement of the 
enemy. 

In the early fall, Generals Johnston and Beauregard ad- 
vanced to a position in close proximity to the Federal capital. 
Unable, however, to provoke an engagement with the Federal 
commander, whose present purposes were purely defensive and 
preparatory, the Confederate army withdrew from the front of 
Washington, and retired within its former lines about IManas- 
sas and Centreville. 

In the latter part of October, an engagement of some im- 
portance occurred near Leesburg, occasioned by an attempt of 
General McClellan to throw a force across the Potomac, 
doubtless with the view of an advance on the Confederate 
left wing. The numbers engaged in this engagement were 
comparatively small, which rendered more remarkable its san- 
guinary character. Nearly the entire Federal force, though 
outnumbering more than two to one the Confederate force, 
was captured or destroyed. There was good reason to regard 
this movement as preliminary to a general advance of the 
Federal army. The battle of Leesburg was very dispiriting 
in its effects upon ihe North, and equally re-assuring to the 
Southern Government and people. No other operations of 
note occurred during the autumn and winter upon the lines 
of the Lower Potomac. 

General Jackson, who by a circumstance which is now well 
known to the world, had acquired at Manassas the sobriquet 
of " Stonewall," in September, 1861, was made a Major-Gen- 
eral. Late in December, in charge of a considerable force, he 
executed, with indifferent success, a movement against detach- 
ments of the enemy in the neighborhood of Romney, and 
other points along the Upper Potomac. 



EVENTS IN WESTERN VIRGINIA AND MISSOURI. 319 

The disasters sustained by the Confederates in "Western Vir- 
ginia, in the early summer, were not repaired by the transfer 
of General Lee to that quarter. A large and valuable sec- 
tion of country remained as the enemy's trophy, almost un- 
disputed at the termination of the campaign. The reputation 
of General Lee sulfered severely I'roni the absence of that suc- 
cess which was anticipated from liis presence in command.- It 
is a noteworthy circumstance that when, a few months after- 
■\vard, the President placed Lee in command of the main army 
of Virginia, his ill-success in AVestern Vii'ginia was alleged 
as conclusive evidence of his unfitness for the position to 
which " executive partiality " had assigned him. 

In the meantime, upon the distant theatre of Missouri, the 
war had assumed a most interesting phase. Many months 
before the legally-elected legislature of that State adopted an 
ordinance of secession, Missouri was contributing valuable aid 
to the struggling Confederacy. Driven by the oppressive 
course of the Federal Government into resistance, in spite of 
their efforts to save their State from the destructive presence 
of war, the Southern men of Missouri organized under the 
leadership of General Sterling Price and Governor Jackson. 
Accessions of men from all portions of the State were con- 
stantly made to the patriot forces, and, within a few weeks, a 
large force was upon the southern border, animated by an 
enthusiastic desire to undertake the redemption of their homes. 
But the Missourians, though sufficiently numerous to 
constitute an effective army, were confronted by difficulties 
which would have aj"»palled men of less heroic ]>ui'pose, or 
enlisted in an inferior cause. Hostilities l.ad been precipitated 
upon them while they were entirely unprepared — wanting 
arms, ammunition, and other indispensable material of war. 



320 LIFE OF JEFFERSON DAVTS. 

The remotenefs of Missouri from the seat of government, and 
the inadequate transj)ortation, prevented that prompt and 
efficient aid by the Confederate authorities which it was 
equally their interest and inclination to afford. Nevertheless, 
with almost miraculous rapidity, the army of General Price 
was organized, and supplied with such material as he could 
obtain. 

The Federal commander, in his march southward from St. 
Louis, pursued, with considerable vigor, the various detach- 
ments of the patriots who were hastening to the standards of 
Price. After several minor engagements, in which the ISIis- 
sourians displayed the most devoted heroism, a considerable 
battle was fought, early in August, near Springfield, in the 
south-western corner of the State, in which the Federal army 
was disastrously defeated, and its commander killed. In this 
battle, the Missouri forces were aided by a Confederate force, 
under General ISIcCulloch, which had advanced northward 
from Arkansas. Later in the year, General Price advanced 
thwngh the central portion of the State, receiving large addi- 
tions to his army, and captured the largest garrison of Fed- 
eral troops in Northern Missouri. Plaving accomplished these 
valuable aims, he, with great skill and daring, eifcctcd a safe 
retreat to the south-western frontier. President Davis, in a 
message to Congress, echoed the hearty appreciation of the 
Southern })eople, in a special tribute to the valor and'devotion 
of the southern population of Missouri. 

Kentucky also had become the theatre of hostilities. The 
Federal Government, recognizing the neutrality of Kentucky 
so long as was necessary to mature their plans for her sul)j li- 
gation, finally insisted upon making her a party to the war, 
and invaded her territory vrith a view to operations against 



EVKNTS IN KENTUCKY. 321 

the Confedoraov. President Davis thus stated the motives of 
the })()licy adopted by the Confederate Government respecting 
Kentucky : 

'' Finding that the Confederate States were about to be invaded 
through Kentucky, and that her people, after being deceived into 
a mistaken security, were unarmed, and in danger of being subju- 
gated by the Federal forces, our armies were marched into that 
State to repel the enemy, and prevent their occupation of certain 
strategic points, which would have given them great advantages in 
the contest — a step which was justified, not only by the necessities 
of self-defense on the part of the Confederate States, but also by 
a desire to aid the people of Kentucky. It was never intended by 
the Confederate Government to conquer or coerce the people of 
that State ; but, on the contrary, it was declared by our Generals 
that they would withdraw their troops if the Federal Government 
would do likewise. Proclamation was also made of the desire to 
respect the neutrality of Kentucky, and the intention, by the wishes 
of her people, as soon as thej'^ were free to express their opinions. 

" These declarations were approved by me ; and I should regard 
it as one of the best efi"ects of the march of our troops into Ken- 
tucky, if it should end in giving to her people liberty of choice, 
and a free opportunity to decide their own destiny, according to 
their own will." 

Xot long after the occupation of various points in Kentucky, 
by the respective armies, an engagement occurred at Belmont, 
on the Missouri shore, near Cokimbus, resulting in the defeat 
of the Federal force engaged. The Confederate forces engaged 
were a })ortion of the conmiand of General Polk, and the de- 
feated Federal conunander was General U. S. Grant. 

Before the first year of the war terminated, the Confederates 
experienced reverses resulting from the naval .^superiority of 
21 



322 LIFE OF JEFFERSON DAVIS. 

the enemy. Expeditions were undertaken against the Caro- 
lina coast, and were successful to the extent of securing a per- 
manent lodgment of the Federal forces. 

In the month of November the forcible seizure, by a Fede- 
ral naval officer, of the persons of Messrs. John Slidell and 
James M. Mason, commissioners, respectively, from the Confed- 
erate States to France and England, and, at the time, passen- 
gers on an English steamer, excited strong hope of those com- 
plications between the United States and European powers 
which were reasonably anticipated by the South. This act 
was a palpable outrage and violation alike of international law 
and comity. It was, nevertheless, indorsed by public senti- 
ment at the North, in manifold forms of expression. 

In England, the intelligence of an outrage upon the national 
flag was received with outbursts of popular indignation, which 
compelled the Government to make a resentful demand upon 
the United States. The course of the English Government 
was characteristic of the nation which it represented. There 
was neither discussion nor parley, but a simple imperative de- 
mand for the surrender of the commissioners and their at- 
taches. 

Never was so deep a humiliation imposed upon a people as that 
imposed by the course of the Federal authorities upon the North. 
The prisoners, over whose capture the whole North had but re- 
cently exulted, as at the realization of the fruits of a brilliant 
victory, were surrendered immediately. Mr. Seward even de- 
clared that they were surrendered " cheerfully," and in accord- 
ance with the " most cherished principles of American states- 
manship," and advanced an argument in favor of complying 
with the demands of the British Government, far more to have 
been expected from a British diplomatist, than from the lead- 



THE ^' TRENT AFFAIR." 323 

ing statesman of a people who had promptly indorsed the 
outrage. 

This concession of the Federal Government was the first of 
numerous disappointments in store for the Southern people, in 
the hope, so universally indulged, of foreign intervention. Ex- 
pectation of immediate complications between England and 
the United States, received great encouragement from the ear- 
lier phase of the "Trent affair," as was called the seizure of 
Messrs. Mason and Slidell. Consequent upon the correspond- 
ence between the Governments of England and the United 
States, growing out of the "Trent affair," were announce- 
ments in Parliament, which should have discouraged the an- 
ticipation of interference by England, at least with the cabinet 
then in power. Lord John Russell declared that the blockade 
of the Southern ports was effective, in spite of abundant evi- 
dence, and in spite, even, of the declarations of the British 
consul at Charleston to the contrary. This concession was 
intended, doubtless, as a salvo to the North for its deep hu- 
miliation, and was, indeed, rightly construed as an evidence 
of the real sympathies of the British cabinet in the American 
struggle. In this aspect, it was an assurance of no little sig- 
nificance. 

At the election, in November, Mr. Davis, without opposi- 
tion, was chosen the first President of the Confederacy, under 
the permanent government, which was soon to succeed the 
provisional organization. Mr. Stephens was reelected Vice- 
President. 

In his message to the provisional Congress, at the begin- 
ning of its last session, the President thus sketched the situa- 
tion at the close of the first vcar of the war: 



324 LIFE OF JEFFEESOX DAVIS. 

" To the Congress of the Confederate Sates : 

"The few weeks which have elapsed since your adjournment 
have brought us so near the close of the year, that we are now 
able to sum up its general results. The retrospect is such as 
should fill the hearts of our people with gratitude to Providence 
for his kind interposition in their behalf. Abundant yields have 
rewarded the labor of the agriculturist, whilst the mauuiacturing 
interest of the Confederate States was never so prosperous as now. 
The necessities of the times have called into existence new branches 
of manufactures, and given a fresh impulse to the activity of those 
heretofore in operation. The means of the Confederate States for 
manufacturing the necessaries and comforts of life, with inthem- 
selves, increase as the conflict continues, and we are rapidly becom- 
ing independent of the rest of the world, for the supply of such 
military stores and munitions as are indispensable for war. 

" The operations of the army, soon to be partially interrupted 
by the approaching winter, have aff"orded a protection to the 
country, and shed a lustre upon its arms, through the trying vicis- 
situdes of more than one arduous campaign, which entitle our 
brave volunteers to our praise and our gratitude. 

" From its commencement up to the present period, the war has 
been enlarging its proportions and extending its boundaries, so as 
to include new fields. The conflict now extends from the shores 
of the Chesapeake to the confines of Missouri and Arizona ; yet 
sudden calls from the remotest points for military aid have been 
met with promptness enough, not only to avert disaster in the face 
of superior numbers, but also to roll back the tide of invasion from 
the border. 

" When the war commenced, the enemy were possessed of cer- 
tain strategic points and strong places within the Confederate 
States. They greatly exceeded us in numbers, in available re- 
sources, and in the supplies necessary for war. Military estab- 
lisUmcuts had been long organized, and were complete ; the navy, 



mESIDEXT's MESSAGE. 325 

and, for the most part, the army, oiu-c (•oiiiiiioii to hotli, were in 
their possession. To meet all tliis, we liad to create, not only an 
army in the face of war itself, but also military establishments 
necessary to equip aud place it in the field. It ought, indeed, to 
be a subject of gratulation that the sjjirit of the volunteers and 
the patriotism of the people have enabled us, under Providence, 
to grapple successfully with these difficulties. 

"A succession of glorious victories at Bethel, Bull Run, Man- 
assas, Springfield, Lexington, Leesburg, and Belmont, has clicckcd 
the wicked invasion which greed of gain, and the unliallowcd lust 
of power, brought upon our soil, and has proved that numbers 
cease to avail, when directed against a people fighting for the sacred 
right of self-government and the privileges of freemen. After 
seven months of war, the enemy have not only failed to extend 
their occupancy of our soil, but new States and Territories have 
been added to our Confederacy; while, instead of their threatened 
inarch of unchecked conquest, they have been driven, at more 
than one point, to assume the defensive; and, upon a fair com- 
parison between the two belligerents, as to men, milita means, 
and financial condition, the Confederate States are relatively much 
stronger now than when the struggle commenced." 



326 LIFE OF JEFFEESO-N DAVIS. 



CHAPTER XI. 

PROSPECTS AT THE BEGINNING OF 1862 — EXTREME CONFIDENCE OF THE SOUTH 

EXTRAVAGANT EXPECTATIONS — THE RICHMOND EXAMINER ON CONFEDERATE 

PROSPECTS WAR BETWEEN ENGLAND AND THE UNITED STATES PREDICTED 

THE BLOCKADE TO BE RAISED — THE SOUTHERN CONFEDERACY DECREED BY 
HEAVEN — RESULT OF THE BOASTFUL TONE OF THE SOUTHERN PRESS — THE 

CONFEDERATE GOVERNMENT NOT RESPONSIBLE FOR THE DISASTERS OF 1862 

PRESIDENT DAVIS URGES PREPARATION FOR A LONG WAR HIS WISE OPPOSI- 
TION TO SHORT ENLISTMENTS OF TROOPS — PREMONITIONS OF MISFORTUNES 

IN THE WEST THE CONFEDERATE FORCES IN KENTUCKY GENERAL ALBERT 

SIDNEY JOHNSTON — HIS CAREER BEFORE THE WAR — CHARACTER — ^APPEAR- 
ANCE — THE FRIEND OP JEFFERSON DAVIS — MUTUAL ESTEEM — SIDNEY JOHN- 
STON IN KENTUCKY — HIS PLANS — HIS DIFFICULTIES — THE FORCES OF GRANT 

AND BUELL CRUEL DILEMMA OF GENERAL SIDNEY JOHNSTON A REVERSE 

GRANT CAPTURES FORTS HENRY AND DONELSON — LOSS OF KENTUCKY AND 
TENNESSEE FEDERAL DESIGNS IN THE EAST BURNSIDE CAPTURES ROAN- 
OKE ISLAND SERIOUS NATURE OF THESE REVERSES POPULAR DISAPPOINT- 
MENT ORGANIZED OPPOSITION TO THE CONFEDERATE ADMINISTRATION 

CHARACTER AND MOTIVES OF THIS OPPOSITION AN EFFORT TO REVOLUTIONIZE 

PRESIDENT DAVIs' CABINET ASSAULTS UPON SECRETARIES BENJAMIN AND 

MALLORY — CORRECT EXPLANATION OF THE CONFEDERATE REVERSES CON- 
GRESSIONAL CENSURE OF MR. BENJ.iMIN SECRETARY MALLORY — CHARAC- 
TERISTICS OF THE SOUTHERN MIND THE PERMANENT GOVERNMENT SECOND 

INAUGURATION OF MR. DAVIS — SEVERITY OF THE SEASON THE CEREMONIES 

APPEARANCE OF PRESIDENT DAVIS — HIS INAUGURAL ADDRESS — ITS EFFECT 

POPULAR RE-ASSURANCE — MESSAGE TO CONGRESS — COMMENTS OP RICHMOND 
PRESS. 



"YjiTHEN President Davis held his first New -Year's recep- 

* * tion, as the chief magistrate of the infant Confederacy, 

there were not wanting signs of the approaching shadows, 



OVKR-CONFIDENCE OF TUE SOUTH. 327 

"which were to throw in temporary eclipse the brilliant fore- 
ground of the first year of the war. RiehuioiicI was then in 
its exultant spirit, its gayety, festivity, and show, the type of 
that fatal confidence in Southern invincibility, which, in a few 
weeks of disaster, M^as brought to grief and humiliation. 

In that numerous and brilliant assemblage, representing the 
various branches of the new government, civil, naval, and 
military, members of Congress and of State Legislatures, and 
admiring citizens, eager to make formal tender of their esteem 
to the first President of the South, there were few who dis- 
cerned the omens of the coming storm, which was to shake its 
foundation, the power of which that occasion was an imposing 
symbol. Perhaps there were as few who could penetrate his 
assuring exterior of grace, gentleness, and dignity, and share 
the anxiety wdth which, even in the midst of popular adula- 
tion, he contemplated the approach of that stern trial for which 
the country was so deficient in preparation. 

AYith singular accord of opinion, writers, who had an inside 
view of the Southern conduct of the war, have commented upon 
the disasters consequent upon the period of fancied security 
and relaxed exertions which followed the battle of Manassas. 
We can not share, however, the shallow and unphilosophical 
conclusion which pronounces the glorious triumph of Manassas 
a calamity to the South. The temporary salvation of the 
Confederacy, guaranteed by that victory, was not its only 
fruit. Manassas gave a stamp of prestige to Southern valor 
and soldiership, which not even a deluge of subsequent disas- 
ters could eflftice. It gave an imperishable record and an un- 
dying incentive to resolution. 

Yet it is not to be questioned that the public apathy, en- 
gendered by an exaggerated estimate of the value of the 



328 LIFE OF JEFFERSON DAVIS. 

numerons and consecutive triumphs of the preceding summer 
and autumn, was measurably productive of evil consequences. 
Encouraged by the press, in many instances, the Southern 
])eo[)le saw, in the comparatively easy triumphs of their supe- 
rior valor over undisciplined Northern mobs — for which Ma- 
nassas, Belmont, Leesburg, and similar engagements constituted 
the mere apprenticeship of war — the auguries significant of a 
speedy attainment of their independence. Inflated orators and 
boastful editorials proclaimed the absolute certainty of early 
interference of foreign powers, in behalf of tlie South, as the 
source of the indispensable staples of cotton and tobacco. In 
the face of the enormous preparations of the enemy, his mon- 
ster armies, numbering, in December, 1861, more than six 
hundred thousand men ; his numerous fleets for sea-board oper- 
ations, and iron-clad floating batteries for the interior streams, 
comparatively insignificant successes were pointed to as suffi- 
cient proofs of the inability of the enemy to make any serious 
impression upon Southern territory. 

The Richmond Examiner, which had early evinced a dispo- 
sition hostile to President Davis and his administration, the 
ablest and most influential journal of the South, destined to 
furnish both the brains and inspiration in support of future 
opposition, was conspicuous in its contempt for the fighting 
qualities of the North, and vehement in its prophesies of good 
fortune for the Confederacy. Late in December, the Examiner, 
commenting upon recent intelligence from the North, said : 
" All other topics become trifles beside the tidings of England 
Avhich occupies this journal, and all commentary that diverts 
public attention from that single point is impertinence. The 
effect of the outrage of the Trent on the public sentiment of 
Great Britain more than fulfills the prophesy that we made 



VIEWS OF THE KTCIIMOND EXAMINER. 329 

when the arrest of the Confederate ministers was a fresh event. 
All legal quibbling and selfish calculation has been consumed 
like straw in the burning sense of incredible insult. The 
Palmerston cabin€t has been forced to immediate and decisive 
measures ; and a peremptory order to Lord Lyons comes with 
the steamer that brings the news to the American shore. He 
is directed to demand the unconditional surrender of Messrs. 
IMason and Slidell, to place them in the jwsition they were 
found beneath the British flag, and a complete disavowal of 
their seizure as an authorized act. Now, the Northern Govern- 
ment has placed itself in such a position that it can do none of these 
things. The Abolitionist element of the Northern States woidd go 
straight to revolution at the least movement toioard a surrender 
of the captives; the arrest was made by the deliberately -writ- 
ten orders of the Government, already avowed and published 
beyond the hope of apology or possibility of retraction. 

"The United States can do absolutely nothing but refuse the 
demands of Great Britain, and abide the consequences of that 
refusal. "What they will be can be clearly foretold : first, there 
will he the diplomatic rupture; Lord Lyons will demand his 
passports, and Mr. Adams will be sent array from I^ondon; 
then will follow an immediate recognition of the Southern Con- 
federacy, with encouragement and aid in fitting out its vessels, 
and supplying their wants in the British ports and islands. 
Lastly, a war will be evolved from these two extents." 

Continuing its comments upon what it terms the "raving 
madness " of the North, the Examiner says : " Then came the 
])roclamation of Lincoln. Nothing but insanity could have 
dictated it; and without it the secession of Virginia was impos- 
sible. Then their crazy attempt to subdue a country not less diffi- 
cult to conquer than Russia itself, with an amied mob of loafers." 



330 LIFE OF JEFFERSON DAVIS. 

In the contemplation of the pleasing sketch which its imagi- 
nation had executed, the Examiner asks: "Spectators of these 
events, who can doubt that the Aiiuighty fiat has gone forth 
against the American Union, or that tlie Southern Confederacy 
is decreed by the Divine Wisdom f It declares that the "dull- 
est worldling, the coolest Atheist, the most hardened cynic, 
might be struck with awe by the startling and continued 
interposition of a power beyond the control or cognizance of 
men in these affairs;" and triumphantly asks: "Who thought, 
when the Trent was announced to sail, that on its deck, and in 
the trough of the weltering Atlantic, the key of the blockade 
M'ould be lost?" 

The natural and inevitable result of the assurances tendered 
to the people, was to lull the patriotic ardor which marked the 
first great uprising for defense, when two hundred thousand 
men sprung to arms. There can be no justice in holding the 
Confederate Government responsible for the popular apathy, 
which it had no agency in producing, or for the weakness of 
the armies, which, next to the naval weakness of the South, 
was the immediate cause of the disasters of the early months 
of 1862. 

Since the commencement of hostilities, the Government had 
been indefatigable in its efforts to promote enlistments of vol- 
unteers for the war, instead of the twelve-months' system, 
which could be adequate for the demands of a temporary exi- 
gency only, and not for such a terrific struggle as must result 
froui the temper and resources of the two contestants. Vol- 
unteering was as yet the only method of raising troops sanc- 
tioned by law, or likely to meet popular approval. The 
country was not yet prepared for an enforced levy of troops; 
and it is only necessary to remember the opposition, in certain 



MR. DAVIS' IDEAS OF THE WAR. 331 

quarters, to the execution of the subsequent conscription law, 
adopted under the pressure of disasters which made its neces- 
sity plain and inevitable, to conjecture the temper in which 
such a measure would have been met, in the over-confident 
and foolishly exultant tone of the press and public in the 
winter of 1861. 

Mr. Davis especially sought to disabuse the public mind of 
its fallacious hope of a short contest, by his efforts to place the 
military resources of the South upon a footing capable of indef- 
inite resistance to an attempt at conquest, which was to end 
only with the success or exhaustion of the North. Conscious 
of the perpetual disorganization and decimation of the armies 
which must result from the system of short enlistments, he 
had, early in the war, attracted unfriendly criticism by his 
refusal of any more six or twelve- months' volunteers than were 
necessary to meet the shock of the enemy's first advance. It 
was clear to his mind that, under the wretched system of short 
enlistments, which he characterized as a " frightful cause of 
disaster," the country must, at some period of the war, be vir- 
tually without an army. Such was the case in January and 
February, 1862, when the enemy eagerly pressed his immense 
advantage while the process of furloughs and reenlistments 
was in progress, and the army almost completely disorganized. 

Such a crisis was inevitable, and had it not occurred then, 
it would merely have been deferred, to be encountered at a 
period when the capacity of the Confederacy was even less 
adequate for its perils. The lesson was not without its value, 
since it drove the country and the press to a recognition of 
the fact that independence was not to be won by shifts and 
dalliance, by temporary expedients, and by spasmodic popular 
uprisings for temporary exigencies. 



332 LIFE OF JEFFERSOX DAYIS. 

The efforts of the Government were unceasing to prepare for 
the tremendous onset of the enemy in ahnost every quarter of 
the Confederacy, which it must have been blind, indeed, not to 
anticipate. The responses to the calls of the Government were 
neither in numbers nor enthusiasm encouraging. The people 
were blind in their confidence, and deaf to appeals admon- 
ishing them of perils which, in their fancied security, they 
believed impossible of realization. But this soothing sense of 
security was soon to have a terrible awakening. The Confed- 
erate Government had recognized the peculiar perils menacing 
the western section of its territory. There for weeks rested the 
anxious gaze of President Davis, and thence were to come the 
first notes of alarm — the immediate premonitions of disaster. 

Immediately, upon the occupation of Kentucky by the 
Confederate forces, had begun the development of a plan of 
defense by the Southern generals. The command of General 
Polk, constituting the Confederate left, was at Columbus. On 
the upper waters of the Cumberland River, in South-eastern 
Kentucky, was a small force constituting the Confederate right, 
commanded first by General Zollicoifer, and afterward by 
General Crittenden. At Bowling Green, with Green River in 
front, and communicating by railway with Nashville and the 
South, was the main Confederate force in Kentucky, com- 
manded by General Buckner until the arrival of General 
Albert Sidney Johnston, whom President Davis had commis- 
sioned a full general in the Confederate service, and assigned 
to the command of the Western Department. 

Apart from the historical interest which belongs to the 
name of Albert Sidney Johnston, and from the dramatic inci- 
dent of his death at the very climax of a splendid victory, 
which immediately paled into disaster upon his fall, as the 



ALBKKT SIDNEY JOHXSTOX, 333 

long and valued friend of Jefferson Davis, he is entitled to 
Si)eeial mention in the biography of the latter. 

Albert Sidney Johnston was born in Mason County, Ken- 
tueky, in 1803. He graduated at West Point in 1826; Was 
commissioned as Lieutenant of infantry ; served in the Black 
Hawk war with distinetion ; resigned and settled in Texas in 
1836. He volunteered as a private in her armies soon afier 
the battle of San Jacinto. His merit soon raised him from 
the ranks, and he was appointed senior Brigadier-General, and 
succeeded General Houston in the command of the Texan 
army. In 1838 he was appointed Texan Secretary of V>'ar, 
and in 1839 organized an expedition against the hostile Chero- 
kees, in which he routed them completely in a battle on the 
river Neches. He warmly advocated the annexation of Texas 
to the United States, and after this union was effected, he took 
jiart in the Mexican war. His services at the siege of Mon- 
terey drew upon him the public favor and the thanks of Gen- 
eral Butler. He continued in the army, and in 1857, Mas 
sent by President Buchanan as Commander-in-Chief of the 
United States Army to subdue the Mormons. His successful 
advance in the Great Salt Lake City, and the skill and address 
with which he conducted a difficult enterprise, largely increased 
his fame. When the war commenced between the North and 
South, he was in California, but when he learned the progress 
of the revolution, he resigned his commission and set out from 
San Francisco, to penetrate by land to Richmond, a distance 
of two thousand three hundred miles. 

The safe arrival of General Albert Sidney Johnston, within 
tlie lines of the Confederacy, was greeted with a degree of 
public acclamation hardly loss enthusiastic than would have 
signalized the intelligence of a great victory. It was known 



334 LIFE OF JEFFERSOX DAVIS. 

that the Federal authorities, anxious to prevent so distinguished 
and valuable an accession to the generalship of the South, were 
intent upon his capture. For weeks j^opular expectation had 
been strained, in eager gaze, for tidings of the distinguished 
commander, who, beset by innumerable perils and obstacles, 
was making his way across the continent, not less eager to join 
his countrymen, than were they to feel the weight of his noble 
blade in tlie unequal combat. 

Few of the eminent soldiers, who had sought service under 
the banners of the Confederacy, had a more brilliant record of 
actual service ; and to the advantages of reputation, General 
Johnston added those graces and distinctions of person with 
which the imagination invests the ideal commander. He was 
considerably past middle age ; his height exceeded six feet, his 
frame was large and sinewy ; his every movement and posture 
indicated vigorous and athletic manhood. The general expre- 
sion of his striking face was grave and composed, but inviting 
rather than austere. 

The arrival of General Johnston in Richmond, early in 
September, was a source of peculiar congratulation to Presi- 
dent Davis. Between these illustrious men had existed, for 
many years, an endearment, born of close association, common 
trials and triumphs, and mutual confidence, which rendered 
most auspicious their cooperation in the cause of Southern in- 
dependence. 

" Albert Sidney Johnston," says Professor Bledsoe, in a 
recent publication, " who, take him all in all, was the simplest, 
bravest, grandest man we have ever known, once said to the 
present writer: 'There is no measuring such a man as Davis;' 
and this high tribute had a fitting counterpart in that which 
Davis paid Johnston, when discussing, in the Federal Senate, 



PLANS OF GENERAL JOHNSTON. 335 

the Utah expedition. Said he 'I hold that 

the country is indebted to the administration for having se- 
lected the man who is at the head of the ex})edition ; who, as 
a soldier, has not a superior in the army or out of it; and 
whose judgment, whose art, whose knowledge is equal to this 
or any other emergency ; a man of such decision, such resolu- 
tion that his country's honor can never be tarnished in his 
hands ; a man of such calmness, such kindness, that a deluded 
people can never suffer by harshness from him,'" 

President Davis immediately tendered to General Johnston 
the command of one of the two grand military divisions of 
the Confederacy, and he as promptly repaired to the scene of 
his duties. 

The general features of General Johnston's policy contem- 
plated a line of defense running from the Mississippi through 
the region immediately covering Nashville to Cumberland 
Gap — the key to the defense of East Tennessee and South- 
western Virginia, and thus to the most vital line of commu- 
nication in the South. It is easy to conceive the large force 
requisite for so important and difficult a task, against the im- 
mense armies of Grant and Buell, numbering, in the aggregate, 
more than one hundred thousand men. Despite the earnest 
appeals of General Johnston, and notwithstanding that upon 
the successful maintenance of his position depended the suc- 
cessful defense of the entire southern and south-western sec- 
tions of the Confederacy, his force, at the last of January, 1862, 
did not exceed twenty-six thousand men. Informed of his 
perilous situation, the Confederate Government could do no 
more than second the appeals and remonstrances of General 
Johnston. Slight accessions were made to his force from tl>e 
States which were menaced, but, as results speedily demon- 



336 LIFE OF JEFFERSON DAVIS. 

strated, he was unable to meet the enemy with an adequate 
force at any one of the vital points of his defensive line. 

In the immediate front of General Johnston's position was 
the army of Buell, estimated at forty thousand men, which, 
during the entire winter, was in training for its meditated ad- 
vance along the line of the railroad in the direction of Nash- 
ville. Under Grant, at Cairo, was an army of nioi'e than fifty 
thousand men, which, in cooperation with a formidable naval 
force, was designed to operate against Nashville, and, by se- 
curing possession of the line of the Tennessee and Cumberland 
Rivers, to hold Kentucky and West Tennessee. General John- 
ston's position was indeed a cruel dilemma, and was sufficiently 
explained in a letter to President Davis, representing th*e inad- 
equacy of his force, for either front of attack, upon a line whose 
every point demanded ample defense. Only a self-denying 
patriotism could have induced General Johnston to occupy his 
false position before the public, which accredited to him an army 
ample even for aggressive warfare. With an almost certain 
prospect of disaster, he nevertheless resolved to make the su- 
preme effort which alone could avert it. 

His plan was to meet Grant's attack upon Nashville with 
sixteen thousand men, hoping, in the meanwhile, by boldly 
confronting Buell wdth the residue of his forces, to hold in 
check the enemy in his immediate front. During the winter, 
by a skillful disposition of his forces and adroit maneuvers, he 
deceived the enemy as to his real strength, and thus deferred 
the threatened advance until the month of February. 

The month of January, 18G2, was to witness the first check 
to the arms of the Confederacy, after seven months of uninter- 
rupted victory. The scene of the disaster was near Somerset, 
Kentucky. The forces engaged were inconsiderable as com- 



A TRAIN OF DIRASTEES. 337 

pared with the conflicts of a few weeks later, but the result 
was disheartening to the impatient temper of the South, not 
yet chastened by the severe trials of adversity. General Crit- 
tenden was badly defeated, though, as is probable, through no 
erroneous calculation or defective generalship on his part. A 
melancholy feature of the disaster was the death of General 
Zollicoffer. With the repulse and retreat of the Confederate 
forces after the battle of Fishing Creek, as the action was called, 
followed the virtual possession of South-eastern Kentucky by 
the Federal army. The Confederate line of defense in Ken- 
tucky was thus broken, and the value of other positions ma- 
terially impaired. 

Early in February the infantry columns of Grant and the 
gunboats of Commodore Foote commenced the ascent of the 
Tennessee E-iver. The immediate object of assault was Fort 
Henry, an imperfectly constructed fortification, on the east 
bank of the river, near the dividing line of Kentucky and 
Tennessee. After a signal display of gallantry by its com- 
mander. General Tilghman, the fort w^as surrendered, the main 
body of the forces defending it having been previously sent 
to Fort Donelson, the principal defense of the Cumberland 
River. The capture of Fort Henry opened the Tennessee 
River, penetrating the States of Tennessee and Alabama, and 
navigable for steamers for more than two hundred miles, to 
the unchecked advance of the enemy. 

General Grant promptly advanced to attack Fort Donel- 
son. After a series of bloody engagements and a siege of 
several days, Fort Donelson was surrendered, with the gar- 
rison of more than nine thousand men. This result was in- 
deed a heavy blow to the Confederacy, and produced a most 
alarming crisis in the military affairs of the Western Depart- 
22 



338 LIFE OF JEFFERSON DAYTS. 

ment. General Johnston was near Nashville, with the force 
which had lately held Bowling Green, the latter place having 
been evacuated during the progress of the fight at Fort Don- 
elson. Nashville was immediately evacuated, and the rem- 
nant of General Johnston's army retreated southward, first to 
Murfreesboro', Tennessee, and afterwards crossed the Tennes- 
see, at Decatur, Alabama. 

In January, General Beauregard had been transferred from 
Virginia to Kentucky, and, at the time of the surrender of 
Nashville, was in command of the forces in the neighborhood 
of Columbus, Kentucky, which protected the passage of the 
Mississippi. The entire Confederate line of defense in Ken- 
tucky and Tennessee having been lost with the surrender of 
Forts Henry and Donelson, its various posts became unten- 
able. In a subsequent portion of this narrative, we shall trace 
the results of the Confederate endeavor to establish a new line 
of defense in the AVest by a judicious and masterly combina- 
tion of forces. 

Meanwhile, the preparations of the enemy in the East were 
even more formidable and threatening than in the West. It 
was in Virginia that the "elastic spirit" of the North, as the 
Richmond Examiner termed the alacrity of the consecutive pop- 
ular uprisings in favor of the war at the North, was chiefly am- 
bitious and hopeful of decisive results in favor of the Union. 
Here was to be sought retrieval of the national honor lost at 
Manassas ; here was the capital of the Confederacy, which, once 
taken, the "rebellion would collapse." The energy and ad- 
ministrative ability of General McClellan had accomplished 
great results in the creation of a fine army and the security 
of the capital. But, with the opening of the season favorable 
to military operations, he was expected to accomplish far more 



EXTENT OF THE REVERSES. 339 

decisive results — nothing less than the capture of Richmond, 
the expulsion of the Confederate authority from Virginia, and 
the destruction of the Confederate army at Manassas. 

Until the opening of spring, military operations in Virginia 
were attended by no events of importance. But the East was 
not to be without its contribution to the unvarying tide of 
Confederate disaster. In the month of February, Roanoke 
Island, upon the sea-line of North Carolina, defended by Gen- 
eral Wise, with a single brigade, was assaulted ])y a powerful 
combined naval and military expedition, under General Burn- 
side, and surrendered, with its garrison. This success opened 
to the enemy the sounds and inlets of that region, with their 
tributary streams, and gave him easy access to a productive 
country and important communications. 

It was not difficult to estimate correctly the serious nature 
of these successive reverses covering nearly every field of im- 
portant operations. They were of a character alarming, in- 
deed, in immediate consequences, and, necessarily, largely af- 
fecting the destiny of the war in its future stages. Retreat, 
evacuation, and surrender seemed the irremediable tendency 
of affairs every-where. Thousands of prisoners were in the 
hands of the enemy, the capital of the most important State 
in the West occupied, the Confederate centre was broken, the 
great water-avenues of the south-west open to the enemy, the 
campaign transferred from the heart of Kentucky to the north- 
ern borders of the Gulf States, and hardly an available line was 
left for the recovery of the lost territory. 

Within a few weeks the extravagant hopes of the South were 
brought to the verge of extreme apprehension. The public 
mind was not to be soothed by the affected indifference of the 
press to calamities, the magnitude of which was too palpable, 



340 LIFE OF JEFFERSON DAVIS. 

in the presence of actual invasion of nearly one half the South- 
ern territory, and of imminent perils threatening the speedy 
culmination of adverse fortune to the Confederacy. Richmond, 
which, during the war, was at all times the reflex of the hopes 
and aspirations of the South, was the scene of gloom and de- 
spondency, in painful contrast with the ardent and gratulatory 
tone so lately prevalent. 

Popular disappointment rarely fails in its search for scape- 
goats upon which to visit responsibility for misfortunes. A 
noticeable result of the Confederate reverses in the beginning of 
1862 was the speedy evolution of an organized hostility to the 
administration of President Davis. The season was eminently 
propitious for outward demonstrations of feeling, heretofore 
suppressed, in consequence of the brilliant success, until re- 
cently, attending the movement for Southern independence. 
The universal and characteristic disposition of the masses to 
receive, with favor, censure of their rulers, and to charge 
public calamities to official failure and maladministration, was 
an inviting inducement, in this period of public gloom, to the 
indulgence of partisan aspirations and personal spleen. 

To one familiar with the political history of the South dur- 
ing the decade previous to secession, there could be no diffi- 
culty in penetrating the various motives, instigating to uuion, 
for a common purpose, the heterogeneous elements of this op- 
position. Prominent among its leaders were men, the life-long 
opponents of the President, notorious for their want of adhe- 
sion to any principle or object for its own sake, and especially 
lukewarm, at all times, upon issues vitally affecting the safety 
of the South. These men could not forget, even when their 
allegiance had been avowed to the sacred cause of country and 
liberty, the rancor engendered in the old contests of party. 



THE ADMIXISTRATIOX ASSAILED. 341 

Some, in additiou to disappointed political ambition, arising 
from the failure of the President to tender them the foremost 
places in the Government, had personal resentments to gratify. 
Much the larger portion of the opposition, which continued, 
until the last moments of the Confederacy, to assail the Gov- 
ernment, had its origin in these influences, and they speedily 
attracted all restless and impracticable characters — born Jaco- 
bins, malcontents by the decree of nature, and others of the 
class who are " never at home save in the attitude of contra- 
diction." 

At first feeble in influence, this faction, by pertinacious and un- 
scrupulous efforts, eventually became a source of embarrassment, 
and promoted the wide-spread division and distrust which, in 
the latter days of the Confederacy, were so ominous of the 
approaching catastrophe. Its earliest shafts were ostensibly not 
aimed at the President, since there was no evidence that the 
popular affection for Mr. Davis would brook assaults upon 
him, but assumed the shape of accusations against his consti- 
tutional advisers. A deliberate movement, cloaked in the 
disguise of respectful remonstrance and petition, sustained by 
demagogical speeches — which, though artfully designed, in 
many instances revealed the secret venom — was arranged, 
upon the assembling of the First Congress under the per- 
manent Government, to revolutionize the cabinet of President 
Davis. 

Mr. Benjamin, the Secretary of War, and Mr. Mallory, 
Secretary of the Navy, were the objects of especial and most 
envenomed assault. They were assailed in Congress, and by a 
portion of the Richmond press, as directly chargeable with the 
late reverses. Yet it should have been plain that the most 
serious of these disasters were attributable chiefly to the over- 



342 LIFE OF JEFFERSON DAVIS. 

whelming naval preponderance of the enemy — an advantage 
not to have been obviated entirely by any degree of foresight 
on the part of the Confederate naval secretary — and by a 
deficiency of soldiers, for which the country itself, and not Mr. 
Benjamin, was to be censured. 

The indisputable facts in the case were ample in the vindi- 
cation of Mr. Mallory, as to the insufl&cient defenses of the 
Western rivers, now in Federal possession. The obvious 
dangers of the Cumberland and Tennessee Rivers, as an 
avenue of access to the heart of the South, were not over- 
looked by the Government. The channels of these rivers 
are navigable during a large portion of the year, and the two 
streams gradually approach each other, as they j^ass from Ten- 
nessee into Kentucky, on their course to the Ohio, coming at 
one point within less than three miles of each other, and 
emptying their waters only ten miles apart. The facilities 
afforded by their proximity for combined military and naval 
operations, were necessarily apparent. The Government con- 
templated the defense of these streams by floating defenses 
the only means by which they could be debarred to the enemy. 
The Provisional Congress, however, by a most singular and 
fatal oversight of the recommendation of the Government, 
made no appropriation for floating defenses on the Tennessee 
and Cumberland, until the opportunity to prepare them had 
passed. 

It authorized the President to cause to be constructed thir- 
teen steam gunboats for sea-coast defense, and such floating 
defenses for the Mississippi River as he might deem best 
adapted to the purpose ; but no provision was made for armed 
steamers on the large Western interior rivers until the month 
of January, 1862, when an act was approved appropriating 



SECRETARIES MALLORY AND BENJAMIN. 343 

one million of dollars, to be expended for this purpose, at the 
discretion of the President, by the Secretary of War, or of the 
Navy, as he might direct. This was less than four weeks 
before the actlial advance of the Federal gunboats, and was, 
of course, too late for the needed armaments. The appropria- 
tion of one hundred thousand dollars, for equipment and re- 
pairs of vessels of the Confederate navy, hardly sufficed to 
enable the Secretary of that department to maintain a few frail 
steamers on the Tennessee, hastily prepared from commercial 
or passenger boats, and very imperfectly armed. 

A congressional investigating committee censured Mr. Ben- 
jamin and General Huger as responsible for the capture of 
Roanoke Island and its garrison. The latter affiiir was indeed 
a disaster not to be lightly palliated, and was one of those in- 
explicable mishaps, which, U]3on retrospection, we see should 
have been avoided, though it is at least doubtful who is justly 
censurable. It is, however, only just to state that no view of 
the Roanoke Island disaster has ever been presented to the 
writer, which did not acquit General Wise of all blame. 
His exculpation was complete before every tribunal of 
opinion. 

Whatever may have been the real merit of these issues made 
against Secretaries Mallory and Benjamin, it is very certain 
that those two gentlemen continued to be the objects of marked 
disflivor from those members of Congress, and that portion of 
the Richmond press known to be hostile to the administration 
of Mr. Davis. Popular prejudice is proverbially unreasoning, 
and it was indeed singular to note how promptly the public 
echoed the assaults of the hostile press against these officials, 
upon subsequent occasions, when they were held account- 



344 LIFE O^ JEFFERSON DAVIS. 

able for disasters with which they had no possible connec- 
tion.* 

This period of Confederate misfortunes gave the first verifi- 
cation of a fact which afterward had frequent illustration, that 
the resolution of the South, so indomitable in actual contest, 
staggered under the weight of reverses. The history of the 
war was a record of the variations of the Southern mind be- 
tween extreme elation and immoderate depression. Extrava- 
gant exultation over success, and immoderate despondency over 
disaster, usually followed each other in prompt succession. Over- 
estimating, in many instances, the importance of its own vic- 
tories, the South quite as frequently exaggerated the value of 
those won by the 'enemy. There was thus a constant de- 
parture from the middle ground of dispassionate judgment, 
which would have accurately measured the real situation; 
making available its opportunities, by a vigorous prosecution 
of advantage, and overcoming difficulties by energetic pre^jara- 
tiou. 

But this despondency happily gave place to renewed de- 
termination, as the success of the enemy brought him nearer 
the homes of the South, and made more imminent the evils 
of subjugation. A grand and noble popular reanimation was 
the response to the renewed vigor and resolution of the Gov- 
ernment. 

When the Confederate Government was organized at Mont- 
gomery, the operation of the provisional constitution was 

* The frieucls of Mr. Mallory, in illustration of this unreasoning preju- 
dice, were accustomed to declare that, "were a Confederate vessel to 
sink in a storm, in the middle of the ocean, the Richmond Examiner and 
Mr. Foote would advocate the censure of the Secretary of the Navy, as 
responsible for her loss." 



THE "permanent" GOVERNMENT. 345 

limited to the period of one year, to be superseded by the per- 
manent government. No material alteration of the political 
organism was found necessary, nor was there any change in 
the personnel of the administration — Mr. Davis having been 
unanimously chosen President at the election in November, 
and retaining his administration as it existed at the close of 
the functions of the provisional constitution. Though the 
change was thus merely nominal, the occasion was replete with 
historic interest to the people whose liberties were involved in 
the fate of the government, now declared "permanent." It 
was,- indeed, an assumption of a new character — a declaration, 
with renewed emphasis, of the high and peerless enterprise of 
independent national existence; an introduction to a future, 
promising a speedy fulfillment of inestimable blessings or 
" woes unnumbered." 

On the 18th of February, 1862, the first Congress, under the 
permanent constitution of the Confederate States, assembled in 
the capitol at Eichraond. On the 22d occurred the ceremony 
of the inauguration of President Davis. 

To the citizens of Richmond and others who were spectators, 
the scene in Capitol Square, on that memorable morning, was 
marked by gloomy surroundings, the recollection of which re- 
calls, with sad interest, suggestive omens, which then seemed 
to betoken the adverse fate of the Confederacy. The season 
was one of unusual rigor, and the preceding month of public 
calamity and distress had been fitly commemorated by a pro- 
tracted series of dark and cheerless days. Never, within 
the recollection of the writer, had there been a day in Rich- 
mond so severe, uncomfortable, and gloomy, as the day ap- 
pointed for the ceremony of inauguration. For days previous 
heavy clouds had foreshadowed the rain, which fell contin- 



346 LIFE OF JEFFERSON DAVIS. 

uously during the preceding night, and which seemed to 
increase in vokime on the morning of the ceremony. The 
occasion was in singular contrast with that which, a year pre- 
vious, had witnessed the installment of the provisional govern- 
ment — upon a day whose genial sunshine seemed prophetic of 
a bright future for the infant power then launched upon its 
voyage. 

But however w^anting in composure may have been the 
public mind, and whatever the perils of the situation, the voice 
of their twice-chosen chief quickly infused into the heart of 
the people, that unabated zeal and unconquerable resolution, 
with which he proclaimed himself devoted anew to the deliver- 
ance of his country. The inaugural address was a noble and 
inspiring appeal to the patriotism of the land. Its eloquent, 
candid, and patriotic tone won all hearts; and even the un- 
friendly press and politicians accorded commendation to the 
dignity and candor with which the President avowed his 
official responsibility; the manly frankness with which he de- 
fended dejjartments of the government unjustly assailed; and 
the assurino;, defiant courasje, with which he invited all classes 
of his countrymen to join him in the sujDreme sacrifice, should 
it become necessary. 

The inaugural ceremonies were as simple and appropriate as 
those witnessed at Montgomery a year previous. The mem- 
bers of the Confederate Senate and House of Representatives, 
with the members of the Virginia Legislature, awaited in the 
hall of the House of Delegates the arrival of the President. 
In consequence of the limited capacity of the hall, compara- 
tively few spectators — a majority of them ladies — witnessed the 
proceedings there. Immediately fronting the chair of the 
speaker were the ladies of Mr. Davis' household, attended by 



CEREMONIES OF INAUGUEATION. 347 

relatives and frieucls. In close proximity were members of 
the cabinet. 

A contemporary account thus mentions this scene : " It was 
a grave and great assemblage. Time-honored men were there, 
who had witnessed ceremony after ceremony of inauguration 
in the palmiest days of the old confederation; those who had 
been at the inauguration of the iron-willed Jackson ; men who, 
in their fiery Southern ardor, had thrown down the gauntlet 
of defiance in the halls of Federal legislation, and in the face 
of the enemy avowed their determination to be free; and 
finally witnessed the enthroning of a republican despot in 
their country's chair of state. All were there; and silent tears 
were seen coursing down the cheeks of gray-haired men, while 
the determined will stood out in every feature." 

The appearance of the President was singularly imposing, 
though there were visible traces of his profound emotion, and 
a pallor, painful to look upon, reminded the spectator of his 
recent severe indisposition. His dress was a plain citizen's 
suit of black. Mr. Hunter, of Virginia, temporary President 
of the Confederate Senate, occupied the right of the platform ; 
INIr. Bocock, Speaker of the House of Representatives, the left. 
When President Davis, accompanied by Mr. Orr, of South 
Carolina, Chairman of the Committee of Arrangements, on the 
part of the Senate, reached the hall and passed to the chair of 
the Speaker, subdued applause, becoming the place and the 
occasion, greeted him. A short time sufficed to carry into 
effect the previously arranged programme, and the dis- 
tinguished procession moved to the Washington monument, 
where a stand was prepared for the occasion. 

Hon. James Lyons, of Virginia, Chairman of the House 
Committee of Arrangements, called the assemblage to order, 



348 LIFE OF JEFFEESON DAVIS. 

and an eloquent and appropriate prayer was offered by Bishop 
Johns, of the Diocese of Virginia. The President, having re- 
ceived a most enthusiastic welcome from the assemblage, with 
a clear and measured accent, delivered his inaugural address : 

Fellow-citizens : On this, the birthday of the man most iden- 
tified with the estabhshment of American independence, and be- 
neath the monument erected to commemorate his heroic virtues 
and those of his compatriots, we have assembled, to usher into 
existence the permanent government of the Confederate States. 
Through this instrumentality, under the favor of Divine Provi- 
dence, we hope to perpetuate the principles of our revolutionary 
fathers. The day, the memory, and the purpose seem fitly asso- 
ciated. 

It is with mingled feelings of humility and pride that I appear 
to take, in the presence of the people, and before high Heaven, 
the oath prescribed as a qualification for the exalted station to 
which the unanimous voice of the people has called me. Deeply 
sensible of all that is implied by this manifestation of the people's 
confidence, I am yet more profoundly impressed by the vast re- 
sponsibility of the ofl&ce, and humbly feel my own uuworthiness. 

In return for their kindness, I can only offer assurances of the 
gratitude with which it is received, and can but pledge a zealous 
devotion of every faculty to the service of those who have chosen 
me as their Chief Magistrate. 

When a long course of class legislation, directed not to the gen- 
eral welfare, but to the aggrandizement of the Northern section 
of the Union, culminated in a warfare on the domestic institutions 
of the Southern States ; when the dogmas of a sectional party, sub- 
stituted for the provisions of the constitutional compact, threatened 
to destroy the sovereign rights of the States, six of those States, 
withdrawing from the Union, confederated together to exercise the 
right and perform the duty of instituting a government which 



INAUGURAL ADDRESS. 349 

would better secure tte liberties for the preservation of -wliicli 
that Union was established. 

TThatever of hope some may have entertained that a returning 
sense of justice would remove the danger with which our rights 
were threatened, and render it possible to preserve the Union of 
the Constitution, must have been dispelled by the malignity and 
barbarity of the Northern States in the prosecution of the exist- 
ing war. The confidence of the most hopeful among us must have 
been destroyed by the disregard they have recently exhibited for 
all the time-honored bulwarks of civil and religious liberty. Bas- 
tiles filled with prisoners, arrested without civil process, or indict- 
ment duly found ; the writ of habeas corpus suspended by execu- 
tive mandate ; a State Legislature controlled by the imprisonment 
of members whose avowed principles suggested to the Federal ex- 
ecutive that there might be another added to the list of seceded 
States; elections held under threats of a military power; civil offi- 
cers, peaceful citizens, and gentle women incarcerated for opinion's 
sake, proclaimed the incapacity of our late associates to administer 
a government as free, liberal, and humane as that established for 
our common use. 

For proof of the sincerity of our purpose to maintain our ancient 
institutions, we may point to the Constitution of the Confederacy 
and the laws enacted under it, as well as to the fact that, through 
all the necessities of an unequal struggle, there has been no act, 
on our part, to impair personal liberty or the freedom of speech, 
of thought, or of the press. The courts have been open, the ju- 
dicial functions fully executed, and every right of the peaceful 
citizen maintained as securely as if a war of invasion had not dis- 
turbed the land. 

The people of the States now confederated became convinced 
that the Government of the United States had ftillen into the 
hands of a sectional majority, who would pervert the most sa- 
cred of all trusts to the destruction of the rights which it was 



350 LIFE OF JEFFERSON DAVIS. 

pledged to protect. They believed tliat to remain longer in the 
Union would subject them to a continuance of a disparaging dis- 
crimination, submission to which would be inconsistent to their 
welfare and intolerable to a proud people. They, therefore, de- 
termined to sever its bonds, and establish a new confederacy for 
themselves. 

The experiment, instituted by our revolutionary fathers, of a 
voluntary union of sovereign States, for jDurposes specified in a 
solemn compact, had been prevented by those who, feeling power 
and forgetting right, were determined to respect no law but their 
own will. The Government had ceased to answer the ends for 
which it had been ordained and established. To save ourselves 
from a revolution which, in its silent but rapid progress, was 
about to place us under the despotism of numbers, and to pre- 
serve, in spirit as well as in form, a system of government 
we believed to be peculiarly fitted to our condition and full of 
promise for mankind, we determined to make a new association, 
composed of States homogeneous in interest, in policy, and in 
feeling. 

True to our traditions of peace and love of justice, we sent 
commissioners to the United States to propose a fair and amica- 
ble settlement of all questions of public debt or property which 
might be in dispute. But the Government at Washington, deny- 
ing our right to self-government, refused even to listen to any 
proposals for a peaceful separation. Nothing was then left to us 
but to prepare for war. 

The first year in our history has been the most eventful in the 
annals of this continent, A new government has been established, 
and its machinery put in operation, over an area exceeding seven 
hundred thousand square miles. The great principles upon which 
we have been willing to hazard every thing that is dear to man 
have made conquests for us which could never have been achieved 
by the sword. Our Confederacy has grown from six to thirteen 



INAUGURAL ADDRESS. 351 

States ; and Maryland, already united to us by hallowed mem- 
ories and material interests, will, I believe, when able to speak 
with unstifled voice, connect her destiny with the South. Our 
people have rallied, with unexampled unanimity, to the support 
of the great principles of constitutional government, with firm 
resolve to perpetuate by arms the rights which they could not 
peacefully secure. A million of men, it is estimated, are now 
standing in hostile array, and waging war along a frontier of thou- 
sands of miles; battles have been fought, sieges have been con- 
ducted, and, although the contest is not ended, and the tide for 
the moment is against us, the final result in our favor is not 
doubtful. 

The period is near at hand when our foes must sink under the 
immense load of debt which they have incurred — a debt which, 
in their efi'orts to subjugate us, has already attained such fearful 
dimensions as will subject them to burdens which must coutinv.e 
to oppress them for generations to come. 

We, too, have had our trials and difiiculties. That we are to 
escape them in the future is not to be hoped. It was to be ex- 
pected, when we entered upon this war, that it would expose our 
people to sacrifices, and cost them much both of money and blood. 
But we knew the value of the object for which we struggled, and 
understood the nature of the war in which we were engaged. Noth- 
ing could be so bad as failure, and any sacrifice would be cheap as 
the price of success in such a contest. 

But the picture has its lights as well as its shadows. This great 
strife has awakened in the people the highest emotions and qual- 
ities of the human soul. It is cultivating feelings of patriotism, 
virtue, and courage. Instances of self-sacrifice and of generous 
devotion to the noble cause for which we are contending are rife 
throughout the land. Never has a people evinced a more deter- 
mined spirit than that now animating men, women, and children 
in every part of our country. Upon the first call, the men fly to 



352 LIFE OF JEFFERSON DAVIS. 

arms ; and wives and mothers send their husbands and sons to 
battle without a murmur of regret. 

It was, perhaps, in the ordination of Providence that we were 
to be taught the value of our liberties by the price which we pay 
for them. 

The recollections of this great contest, with all its common tra- 
ditions of glory, of sacrifices, and of blood, will be the bond of 
harmony and enduring aflPection amongst the people, producing 
unity in policy, fraternity in sentiment, and joint effort in war. 

Nor have the material sacrifices of the past year been made 
without some corresponding benefits. If the acquiescence of 
foreign nations in a pretended blockade has deprived us of our 
commerce with them, it is fast making us a self-supporting and 
an independent people. The blockade, if effectual and perma- 
nent, could only serve to divert our industry from the production 
of articles for export, and employ it in supplying commodities 
for domestic use. 

It is a satisfaction that we have maintained the war by our un- 
aided exertions. We have neither asked nor received assistance 
from any quarter. Yet the interest involved is not wholly our 
own. The world at large is concerned in opening our markets to 
its commerce. When the independence of the Confederate States 
is recognized by the nations of the earth, and we are free to fol- 
low our interests and inclinations by cultivating foreign trade, the 
Southern States will offer to manufacturing nations the most favor- 
able markets which ever invited their commerce. Cotton, sugar, 
rice, tobacco, provisions, timber, and naval stores will furnish at- 
tractive exchanges. Nor would the constancy of these supplies be 
likely to be disturbed by war. Our confederate strength will be 
too great to attempt aggression; and never was there a people 
whose interests and principles committed them so fully to a peace- 
ful policy as those of the Confederate States. By the character 
of their productions, they are too deeply interested in foreign 



INAUGURAL ADDRESS. 353 

commerce wantonly to disturb it. War of conquest tliey can not 
wage, because the Constitution of their Confederacy admits of no 
coerced association. Civil war there can not be between States 
held together by their volition only. This rule of voluntary as- 
sociation, which can not fail to be conservative, by securing just 
and impartial government at home, does not diminish the security 
of the obligations by which the Confederate States may be bound 
to foreign nations. In proof of this, it is to be remembered that, 
at the first moment of asserting their right of secession, these 
States proposed a settlement on the basis of a common liability 
for the obligations of the General Government. 

Fellow-citizens, after the struggles of ages had consecrated the 
right of the Englishman to constitutional representative govern- 
ment, our colonial ancestors were forced to vindicate that birth- 
right by an appeal to arms. Success crowned their efforts, and 
they provided for their posterity a peaceful remedy against future 
aggression. 

The tyranny of an unbridled majority, the most odious and least 
responsible form of despotism, has denied us both the right and 
the remedy. Therefore we are in arms to renew such sacrifices 
as our fathers made to the holy cause of constitutional liberty. 
At the darkest hour of our struggle, the provisional gives place 
to the permanent government. After a series of successes and 
victories, which covered our arms with glory, we have recently 
met with serious disasters. But, in the heart of a people resolved 
to be free, these disasters tend but to stimulate to increased re- 
sistance. 

To show ourselves worthy of the inheritance bequeathed to us 
by the patriots of the Revolution, we must emulate that heroic 
devotion which made reverse to them but the crucible in which 
their patriotism was refined. 

With confidence in the wisdom and virtue of those who will 
share with me the responsibility, and aid me in the conduct of 
23 



354 LIFE OF JEFFERSON DAVIS. 

public affairs; securely relying on the patriotism and courage of 
the people, of which the present war has furnished so many ex- 
amples, I deeply feel the weight of the responsibilities I now, with 
unaffected diffidence, am about to assume ; and, fully realizing the 
inadequacy of human power to guide and to sustain, my hope is 
reverently fixed on Him, whose favor is ever vouchsafed to the 
cause which is just. With humble gratitude and adoration, ac- 
knowledging the Providence which has so visibly protected the 
Confederacy during its brief but eventful career, to Thee, 
Grod! I trustingly commit myself, and prayerfully invoke Thy 
blessing on my country and its cause. 

The effect of this address upon the public was electrical. 
The anxious and dispirited assemblage, which, for more than an 
hour previous to the arrival of the President, had braved the 
inclement sky and traversed the almost impassable avenues of 
Capitol Square, in eager longing for re-assuring words from 
liim upon whose courage and will so much depended, was not 
disappointed. A consciousness of a burden removed, of 
doubts dispelled, of the re-assured feeling, which comes with 
strengthened conviction that confidence has not been misplaced, 
animated and thrilled the crowd as it caught the impressive 
tones and gestures of the speaker. In the memory of every 
beholder must forever dwell the imposing presence of Mr. 
Davis, as, with uplifted hands, he pronounced the beautiful 
and appropriate petition to Providence, which forms the pero- 
ration. 

The message sent by President Davis to Congress, a few 
days after the inauguration, is hardly inferior in importance, 
as a historical document, to the inaugural address. In view 
of its explanations of the earlier policy of the Confederate 



MESSAGE. 355 

Government, of the causes of recent disasters, and indications 
of important changes in the future conduct of the war, we 
present entire this first message of Mr. Davis to the First 
Congress assembled under the permanent Constitution : 

To the Senate and House of Representatives of the Confederate States — 

In obedience to the constitutional provision, requiring the 
President, from time to time, to give to the Congress information 
of the state of the Confederacy, and recommend to their consid- 
eration such measures as he shall judge necessary and expedient, 
I have to communicate that, since my message at the last session of 
the Provisional Congress, events have demonstrated that the Gov- 
ernment had attempted more than it had power successfully to 
achieve. Hence, in the effort to protect, by our arms, the whole 
of the territory of the Confederate States, sea-board and inland, we 
have been so exposed as recently to encounter serious disasters. 
When the Confederacy was formed, the States composing it were, 
by the peculiar character of their pursuits, and a misplaced confi- 
dence in their former associates, to a great extent, destitute of the 
means for the prosecution of the war on so gigantic a scale as that 
which it has attained. The workshops and artisans were mainly 
to be found in the Northern States, and one of the first duties 
which devolved upon this Government was to establish the necessary 
manufactories, and in the meantime to obtain, by purchase from 
abroad, as far as practicable, whatever was required for the public 
defense. No effort has been spared to effect both these ends, 
and though the results have not equaled our hopes, it is believed 
that an impartial judgment will, upon full investigation, award to 
the various departments of the Government credit for having done 
all which human power and foresight enabled them to accom- 
plish. 

The valor and devotion of the people have not only sustained 



356 LIFE OF JEFFERSON DAVIS. 

the efforts of the Government, but have gone far to supply its 

deficiencies. 

The active state of military preparations among the nations of 
Europe, in April last, the date when our agents first went abroad, 
interposed unavoidable delays in the procurement of arms, and the 
want of a navy has greatly impeded our efforts to import military 
supplies of all sorts. 

I have hoped for several days to receive official reports in re- 
lation to our discomfiture at Roanoke Island, and the fall of Fort 
Donelson. They have not yet reached me, and I am, therefore, 
unable to communicate to you such information of those events, 
and the consequences resulting from them, as would enable me to 
make recommendations founded upon the changed condition which 
they have produced. Enough is known of the surrender of 
Roanoke Island to make us feel that it was deeply humiliating, 
however imperfect may have been the preparations for defense. 
The hope is still entertained that our reported losses at Fort 
Donelson have been greatly exaggerated, inasmuch as I am not 
only unwilling, but unable to believe that a large army of our 
people have surrendered without a desperate effort to cut their 
way through investing forces, whatever may have been their num- 
ber, and to endeavor to make a junction with other divisions of 
the army. But in the absence of that exact information which 
can only be afforded by official reports, it would be premature to 
pass judgment, and my own is reserved, as I trust yours will be, 
until that information is received. In the meantime, strenuous 
efforts have been made to throw forward reinforcements to the 
armies at the positions threatened, and I can not doubt that the 
bitter disappointments we have borne, by nerving the people to 
still greater exertions, will speedily secure results more accordant 
with our just expectation, and as favorable to our cause as those 
which marked the earlier periods of the war. 

The reports of the Secretaries of War and the Navy will ex- 



MESSAGE. 357 

hibit tlie mass of resources for the conduct of the war -which we 
have been enabled to accumulate, notwithstanding the very serious 
difficulties against which we have contended. 

They afford the cheering hope that our resources, limited as 
they were at the beginning of the contest, will, during its pro- 
gress, become developed to such an extent as fully to meet our 
future wants. 

The policy of enlistment for short terms, against which I have 
steadily contended from the commencement of the war, has, in my 
judgment, contributed, in no immaterial degree, to the recent re- 
verses which we have suffered, and even now renders it difficult to 
furnish you an accurate statement of the army. When the war 
first broke out, many of our people could with difficulty be per- 
suaded that it would be long or serious. It was not deemed 
possible that any thing so insane as a persistent attempt to subju- 
gate these States could be made — still less that the delusion 
would so far prevail as to give to the war the vast proportions 
which it has assumed. The people, incredulous of a long war, 
were naturally averse to long enlistment, and the early legislation 
of Congress rendered it impracticable to obtain volunteers for a 
greater period than twelve months. Now, that it has become 
probable that the war will be continued through a series of years, 
our high-spirited and gallant soldiers, while generally reenlisting, 
are, from the fact of having entered the service for a short term, 
compelled, in many instances, to go home to make the necessary 
arrangements for their families during their prolonged absence. 

The quotas of new regiments for the war, called for from the 
different States, are in rapid progress of organization. The whole 
body of our new levies and reenlisted men will probably be ready 
in the ranks within the next thirty days. But, in the meantime, 
it is exceedingly difficult to give an accurate statement of the 
number of our forces in the field. They may, in general terms, 
be stated at four hundred regiments of infantry, with a proper- 



358 LIFE OF JEFFERSON DAVIS. 

tionate force of cavalry and artillery, the details of which will be 
shown by the report of the Secretary of War. I deem it proper to 
advert to the fact that the process of furloughs and reenlistment iu 
progress for the last month had so far disorganized and weakened 
our forces as to impair our ability for successful defense ; but I 
heartily congratulate you that this evil, which I had foreseen and 
was powerless to prevent, may now be said to be substantially at 
an end, and that we shall not again, during the war, be exposed to 
seeing our strength diminished by this fruitful cause of disaster — 
short enlistments. 

The people of the Confederate States, being principally en- 
gaged in agricultural pursuits, were unprovided at the commence- 
ment of hostilities with ships, ship-yards, materials for ship-building, 
or skilled mechanics and seamen, in sufficient numbers to make the 
prompt creation of the navy a practicable task, even if the required 
appropriations had been made for the purpose. Notwithstanding 
our very limited resources, however, the report of the Secretary 
will exhibit to you a satisfactory progress in preparation, and 
a certainty of early completion of vessels of a number and class 
on which we may confidently rely for contesting the vaunted 
control of the enemy over our waters. 

The financial system, devised by the wisdom of your predeces- 
sors, has proved adequate to supplying all the wants of the Gov- 
ernment, notwithstanding the unexpected and very large increase 
of expenditures resulting from the great augmentation in the 
necessary means of defense. The report of the Secretary of the 
Treasury will exhibit the gratifying fact that we have no floating 
debt ; that the credit of the Government is unimpaired, and that 
the total expenditure of the Government for the year has been, in 
round numbers, one hundred and seventy millions of dollars — less 
than one-third the sum wasted by the enemy in his vain efi"ort to 
conquer us — less than the value of a single article of export — the 
cotton crop of the year. 



MESSAGE. 359 

The report of the Postmaster-General will show the condition 
of that department to be steadily improving — its revenue increas- 
ing, and already affording the assurance that it will be self-sus- 
taining at the date required by the Constitution, while affording 
ample mail facilities for the people. 

In the Department of Justice, which includes the Patent OflSce 
and Public Printing, some legislative provision will be required, 
which will be specifically stated in the report of the head of that 
department. 

I invite the attention of Congress to the duty of organizing a 
Supreme Court of the Confederate States, in accordance with the 
mandate ofthe Constitution. 

I refer you to my message communicated to the Provisional 
Congress in November last, for such further information touching 
the condition of public affairs, as it might be useful to lay before 
you; the short interval which has since elapsed not having produced 
any material changes in that condition, other than those to which 
reference has already been made. 

In conclusion, I cordially welcome representatives who, recently 
chosen by the people, are fully imbued with their views and feel- 
ings, and can so ably advise me as to the needful provisions for 
the public service. I assure you of my hearty cooperation in all 
your efforts for the common welfare of the country. 

JEFFERSON DAVIS. 

The message, not less than the inaugural address, was re- 
ceived with many evidences of public reanimation. The 
following extracts indicate the state of feeling in Richmond at 
this period : 

THE PRESIDENT'S MESSAGE. 

(From the Richmond Whig, Feb. 26, 1802.) 

The President makes a candid and frank confession of our 
recent reverses. Very justly, he does not regard them as vital to 



360 LIFE OF JEFFERSON DAVIS. 

our cause ; but they will entail a long war upon us. That long 
war ensures our independence, and the ultimate confusion and 
ruin of the Yankees 

The Examiner, of the same date, in the opening paragraph 
of its leader, said : 

The President's Message is a manly and dignified document, 
hut, like the inaugural, it contains not a solitary word indicating 
the plan or policy of the Grovernment. Far from objecting to this 
characteristic, we think it eminently proper that the executive 
should keep its counsels from the public eye, and that the Con- 
gress should withdraw its deliberations from the public ear. What 
is wanted from the one is distinct and peremptory orders; and 
from the other, decisive and adequate provisions for the public 
safety. The duty of the country is unhesitating obedience ; of 
the soldiers, the courage that prefers death in glory, like Jennings 
Wise 



REANIMATION OF THE SOUTH. 361 



CHAPTEE XII. 

POPULAR DELUSIONS IN THE EARLY STAGES OP THE WAR — A FEW CONFLICTS 
AND SACRIFICES NOT SUFFICIENT — MORE POSITIVE RECOGNITION OF MR. DAVIs' 

VIEWS — HIS CANDID AND PROPHETIC ANNOUNCEMENTS — MILITARY REFORMS 

CONSCRIPTION LAW OP THE CONFEDERACY — THE PRESIDENT'S VIEWS AND 
COURSE AS TO THIS LAW — HIS CONSISTENT REGARD FOR CIVIL LIBERTY AND 
OPPOSITION TO CENTRALIZATION — RECOMMENDS CONSCRIPTION — BENEFICIAL 

RESULTS OP THE LAW GENERAL LEE COMMANDER-IN-CHIEF, " UNDER THE 

president" NATURE OP THE APPOINTMENT FALSE IMPRESSIONS COR- 
RECTED — MR. DAVIs' CONFIDENCE IN LEE, DESPITE POPULAR CENSURE OF THE 
LATTER — CHANGES IN THE CABINET — MR. BENJAMIN* S MANAGEMENT OF THE 
WAR OFFICE — DIFFICULTIES OP THAT POSITION — THE CHARGE OF FAVORITISM 
AGAINST MR. DAVIS IN THE SELECTION OF HIS CABINET — HIS PERSONAL RE- 
LATIONS WITH THE VARIOUS MEMBERS OP HIS CABINET — ACTIVITY IN MILI- 
TARY OPERATIONS — THE TRANS-MISSISSIPPI — BATTLE OF ELK HORN — OPERA- 
TIONS EAST OF THE MISSISSIPPI GENERALS SIDNEY JOHNSTON AND BEAURE- 
GARD — ISLAND NO. 10 — CONCENTRATION OF TROOPS BY THE CONFEDERATE 
AUTHORITIES — FAVORABLE SITUATION — SHILOH — A DISAPPOINTMENT — DEATH 
OP SIDNEY JOHNSTON — TRIBUTE OP PRESIDENT DAVIS — POPULAR VERDICT 

UPON THE BATTLE OP SHILOH GENERALS BEAUREGARD, BRAGG, AND POLK 

ON THE BATTLE THE PRESIDENT AGAIN CHARGED WITH "INJUSTICE" TO 

BEAUREGARD — THE CHARGE ANSWERED — FALL OF NEW ORLEANS — ^NAVAL 
BATTLE IN HAMPTON ROADS — NAVAL SUCCESSES OF THE ENEMY, 

AlTE have briefly indicated the causes which now elevated 
' ^ the Southern people to a more intelligent aj)preciation 
of the nature and necessities of the struggle in which they 
were engaged. There was reason for the congratulation which 
President Davis experienced at the unmistakable evidences of 
the awakening of the public mind to the stern duties which, 
from the beginning, he had sedulously inculcated. 



362 LIFE OF JEFFEESON DAVIS. 

The progress of the war had already developed the existence 
of numerous errors upon both sides, and had exploded many 
cherished theories having possession of the popular mind of 
each section, with reference to the power, resources, and spirit 
of its antagonist. Both parties had entered into the contest 
with the firm conviction of certain triumph, and with the pur- 
pose to make the struggle as short as possible. The war-cry 
of the North was "Let it be short, sharp, and decisive;" and 
they appealed to their numbers, wealth, and sectional hatred, 
as elements of superiority, which would inevitably end the war 
in their favor in a few months. The South was equally dis- 
posed to a speedy conclusion. With the masses of the South 
and the majority of their advisers, the predominant idea and 
aspiration was to teach the enemy, by prompt and heavy blows, 
the impossibility of successful invasion, and thus shorten the 
period of bloodshed. Thus both, from a necessity which nei- 
ther was able to avoid, began with gigantic preparations, 
hoping, by a few mighty conflicts of arras, and one lavish sac- 
rifice of life and treasure, to bring to prompt arbitrament an 
issue which was the growth of a century. 

But the aroused spirit of sectional strife was not to be ap- 
peased by a single holocaust. The American people, a youth- 
ful giant, totally uneducated in the experience of war, having 
never yet tested their strength and dimensions, would not 
consent that the game of empire should be decided by a single 
dramatic denouement, a Waterloo, a Solferino, or Sadowa. 
Manassas had been the bitter but beneficent chastisement of 
the North, and the reproof was accepted with that wonderful 
elasticity, which afterwards amazed the world with its manifest- 
ations after the most disheartening failures. A rebuke no less 
signal waited upon the South, and its correcting influence im- 



POPULAR RESPONSE TO THE PRESIDENT. 363 

mediately exhibited a temper which was the temporary salvation 
of the Confederacy, and the inspiration to a series of cam- 
paigns among the most memorable in the annals of warfare. 

With the inauguration of the permanent government came 
not only renewed resolution in the prosecution of the war, but 
a more positive recognition and adoption of the views of Presi- 
dent Davis. We have elsewhere described the antagonism 
between those views and the theory of the leaders at Mont- 
gomery, shared by the press and people of the South, which 
derided any other hypothesis than a six-months' war, with 
the certainty of independence. Whatever weight may be ac- 
credited to the statements which we have made in demonstra- 
tion of Mr. Davis' conviction, that the war would be one of 
unexampled magnitude and long duration ; whatever may be 
the rational inference from his opposition to a military system 
contemplating a war lasting six or twelve months; whatever 
the credence extended to his own subsequent declarations of 
the difficulties preventing the complete preparation for the 
emergency, which he contemplated,* at least there was no 

* The careful reader will hardly have overlooked the passage, in the 
Message to Congress, in the preceding chapter, in vrhich Mr. Davis thus 
alludes to this subject: "The active state of military preparation among 
the nations of Europe, in April last, the date when our agents first went 
abroad, interposed unavoidable delays in the procurement of arms, and 
the want of a navy has greatly impeded our efforts to obtain military 
supplies of all sorts." 

A few months later, he said, speaking with characteristic candor: "I 
was among those who, from the beginning, predicted war as the conse- 
quences of secession, although I must admit that the contest has assumed 
proportions more gigantic than I had anticipated. I predicted war, not 
because our right to secede and to form a government of our own was 
not indisputable and clearly defined in the spirit of that declaration, 



364 LIFE OF JEFFEESON DAVIS. 

room for misconception of his expectations as to the war in its 
future stages. 

Congratulating the Confederate Congress upon the auspicious 
awakening of the popular mind from dangerous delusions, even 
through the hard experience of adversity, he admonishes Con- 

which rests the right to govern on the consent of the governed, but saw 
that the wickedness of the North would precipitate a war upon us." — 
Address before Mississippi Legislature, December, 1862. 

Mr. Davis here candidly admits that the "gigantic proportions" of the 
war exceeded his expectations, as they did also the expectations of the 
whole country and of the world. He did foresee a great war, and pre- 
pared for it ; but he was not guilty of the foolish pretension that the war 
simply realized his expectations, when every statesman of Europe and 
America was deceived, both as to its duration and magnitude. Who 
believes that Napoleon the First, equally the unrivaled master of war and 
diplomacy, would pretend that he foresaw the extent and duration, or the 
results, of the wars of the empire? that he realized the inextinguishable 
nature of English hostility, or anticipated the numerous perfidies of 
Austria? Mr. Seward, who is likely to be remembered, with some dis- 
tinction, in connection with the diplomacy and statesmanship of the late 
war, constantly predicted its termination in "ninety days." No opinion 
can be truthfully ascribed to Mr. Davis indicating a light estimate of the 
struggle either before or during the war. Yet there is a retrospective 
statesmanship in the South which now claims that he should have been 
lifted to its own preternatural powers, and from the fii-st have seen every 
phase and incident. How absurd must this pretension appear to the 
sober judgment of fifty years hence. 

Mr. Davis was even accredited in Richmond, by an extravagant and 
unfounded popular report, with the prophecy that "children then (1862) 
unborn would be soldiers in the war between the North and South." 
People in those days saw nothing in the action of the Government indi- 
cating its faith in a short war. Their only consolation was found in the 
editorials of Richmond newspapers predicting foreign intervention should 
McClellan be defeated. 



MILITARY EEFOEMS. 365 

gress and the country to prepare for a ^^war lasting through a 
term of years.'' But a few weeks later and he invited the 
Legislature of Virginia to contemplate a possible duration of 
the war for twenty years upon the soil of that State. In 
all his declarations, public and private, was evidenced the 
adherence to that original conviction of a struggle long, 
bloody, and exhaustive, and with varying fortune, which had 
prompted the heroic assurance, at his first inauguration at 
INIontgomery, of an " inflexible " pursuit of the object of inde- 
pendence. 

President Davis sufficiently exposed, in his first message to 
the new Congress, the evil consequences of the pernicious mili- 
tary system under which the war had thus far been conducted. 
Indeed, its evils were apparent, and the country responded to 
the urgent appeals of the President for a more efficient organ- 
ization of the armies of the Confederacy — one that should 
insure a force sufficient to meet the present exigency and to 
provide for future defense. It was with considerable reluc- 
tance that he finally recommended the adoption of the act of 
conscription. Constitutional scruples were at least debatable, 
but there could be no question as to the appearance of bad 
faith by the Government, with the patriotic volunteers, who 
had responded at the first call to arms, and who were now 
compelled to remain in the field, by a law adopted, just as 
their term of service was expiring. Yet this was the class 
necessarily constituting the majority of those who would 
be subject to the operation of the law, as they were a ma- 
jority, or an approximate majority, of the arms-bearing popu- 
lation. 

To one so peculiarly jealous of encroachments by the central 
power upon the privileges of the States, the proposition had 



366 LIFE OF JEFFERSON DAVIS. 

additional objections. Mr. Davis had hoped to avoid the 
necessity of a measure, so much after the manner of military 
despotism, and sought to take advantage of the patriotic ardor 
exhibited upon the first rush to arms, by inducing enlistments 
for the war. Especially distasteful was a resort to compulsion 
into the ranks, in a war the success of which necessarily de- 
pended upon the voluntary and patriotic aid of the people, 
while the enemy, without difficulty, raised a half million of 
men for their schemes of conquest. 

Second to the object of independence only, the controlling 
aspiration of President Davis was, that the war might not 
terminate in the destruction of civil liberty. With evident 
pride, he proclaimed the honorable fact that, " through all the 
necessities of an unequal struggle, there has been no act on 
our part to impair personal liberty or the freedom of speech, 
of thought, or of the press."* His consistent regard for civil 
liberty was preserved even in instances where additions to the 
executive authority would result. The role of Louis Qua- 
torze, of Frankenstein, or of Caesar, presented no attractions 
to the republican executive, whose position and authority were, 
themselves, a protest against the exercise of arbitrary and un- 
granted powers. 

It is a striking evidence of the contempt for consistency, 
manifested by Mr. Davis' assailants, that these virtues, so com- 
mendable in the executive of a free people, should then have 
actually constituted the ground of accusation, by those M^ho 
subsequently charged him with an ambition to unite in himself 
all the departments of the Government. There arose, at this 
time, a demagogical demand for a " Dictator " — that morbid 
aspiration characteristic of men of weak nerve and deficient 
* Inaugural Address, February 22, 1862. 



THE CONSCRIPTION LAW. 367 

fortitude, which vainly seeks to make Government more pow- 
erful for good purposes, by removing all restraints upon its 
power to do evil. 

Emphatic in the assertion of the authority conferred by the 
Constitution upon his position. President Davis was no less 
persistent in his refusal to countenance the investiture of him- 
self with dictatorial powers. 

But the stern and pressing exigencies of the times out- 
weighed considerations of even the gravest import, and induced 
a resort to that measure which the President had hoped to 
avoid, but upon which now depended the salvation of the 
country. In accordance with the recommendation of the 
President, Congress, on the 16th of April, 1862, adopted the 
conscription law, which was thenceforward, with many ma- 
terial modifications rendered necessary by circumstances, the 
basis of the military system of the Confederacy. This law 
placed at the disposal of the President, during the war, every 
citizen not belonging to a class exempted, between the ages 
of eighteen and thirty -five, thus annulling all contracts made 
with volunteers for short terms. By this act, the States sur- 
rendered their control over such of their citizens as came 
within the terms of the act, and in each State were located 
camps of instruction, for the reception and training of con- 
scripts. There were other features* of the conscription law, 
having in view an increased solidity and harmony of the army 
organization. 

It is impossible to overestimate the immediate benefits real- 
ized to the Confederacy from this legislation. The incipient 
disorganization of the army, consequent upon the numerous 
furloughs granted to such of the men as would reenlist for 
the war, was instantly checked ; large additions were made to 



368 LIFE OF JEFFERSON DAVIS. 

commands already in the field, and the discipline and general 
frame-work of the army greatly improved. 

Second in importance to the adoption of the act of con- 
scription only, among the accessions of strength to the military 
system of the Confederacy at this period, was the appointment 
of General Lee to the general command of the armies, " under 
the direction of the President."* 

The nature of the position thus assigned to one whom the 
concurrent criticism of his age pronounces the most eminent 
of American commanders, has been much misunderstood, and 
with its discussion has been associated much injurious misrep- 
resentation of President Davis. 

General Lee, after the failure of his campaign in North- 
western Virginia, in the autumn of 1861, became the object 
of a vast amount of disparaging criticism. His case was, 
indeed, in marked coincidence with that of Sidney Johnston. 
Both were distinguished in the Federal service; previous to 
the war they were generally conceded to be the ablest officers 
of that service; both were known to have been the class- 
mates of Jefferson Davis and his intimate friends. In their 
first campaigns, both were adjudged, by the hot and impulsive 
temper of the time, to have committed gross and signal fail- 



•1 



* The order was in these terms : 

" War Department, 
"Adjutant and his Inspector-General's Office, 

" March 13. 1862. 
General Ordsrs, 

No. 14. 

"General Robert E. Lee is assigned to duty at the seat of Government; 

and, under the direction of the President, is charged with the conduct 

of military operations in the armies of the Confederacy. 

" By command of the Secretary of War. 

"S. COOPER, 

'■'■Adjutant and Inspector-General." 



LEE COMMANDING GENERAL. 369 

urc. Neither had many apologists. Johnston was declared an 
imbecile — a mere martinet, without any of the qualities of 
true generalship ; and Lee was pronounced incompetent for 
higher duties than the clerical performances of the War Office. 

President Davis alone remained firm in behalf of these two 
men, whom a few months sufficed to triumphantly vindicate. 
What nobler vindication should he himself claim than that, 
through his firmness and discernment, was given the needed 
opportunity to the three great soldiers — Lee, Sidney Johnston, 
and Stonewall Jackson — who, above all others, have illustrated 
American warfare.* 

It has been erroneously supposed and asserted, that General 
Lee was assigned the position of commanding general at the 
special instance of Congress, and in obedience to the pro- 
claimed will of the people. Whatever may have been the 
concurrence of the Confederate Congress in the selection made 
by President Davis of Lee for that position, there is no ground 
for the hypothesis that the Southern people welcomed this pro- 
motion of General Lee as an assurance of good fortune in the 
future conduct of the war. 

Indeed, the act of Congress, creating the office of command- 
ing general, was adopted at the special suggestion of the Pres- 
ident, who immediately assigned Lee to the discharge of its 
duties. Congress designed General Lee to be Minister of War, 
and, with a view to the promotion of that purpose, repealed a 
provision which deprived of his rank in the army, a general 

* The fact is not generally known that the President was, upon two 
occasions, assailed with urgent petitions for the removal of Stonewall 
Jackson, which he peremptorily rejected on both occasions; first, after 
the campaign about Romney, in December, 1861, and again, after the 
battle of Kernstown. March, 1862. 

24 



370 LIFE OF JEFFERSON DAVIS. 

assigned to the control of the War Office. But President 
Davis clearly understood the broad and palpable distinction, 
between the talents requisite for successful administration of 
that department of the Government, and the genius of a great 
soldier. He had too just an appreciation of the high military 
qualities of Lee, to consent to their virtual entombment in a 
civil position. In accordance with these suggestions, the Pres- 
ident obtained the adoption of the necessary legislation, and 
conPrred upon General Lee the control and supervision of the 
purely military affairs and operations of the war administra- 
tion. Thus it was neither in compliance with the action of 
Congress, nor in deference to the popular will, that President 
Davis selected an appropriate sphere for the genius of Lee, 
where it " soon dawned upon the admiration of mankind, and 
retained its effulgence undimmed to the last."* 

The terms of the order assigning General Lee to duty, " un- 
der the direction of the President," have been construed to 
signify, that it was not designed that he should exercise those 
appropriate functions which obviously appertain to the posi- 
tion of commanding-general. It has been argued that the 
President thus created Lee a sort of " chief of staff," or orna- 
mental attache of his military household, with a purely com- 
plimentary and meaningless title. The selections made by Mr. 
Davis, of Lee first, and, subsequently, of Bragg, as incumbents 
of the position, sufficiently repel this absurd conclusion. It 
is true that the President did not delegate to these officers his 
constitutional functions as commander-in-chief, but to assist 
and advise him, in the discharge of those ai'duous and labori- 
ous functions, required no ordinary skill and experience. The 

* I am mainly indebted for these facts to a recent publication by Pro- 
fessor Bledsoe, late Assistant Secretary of War of the Confederate States. 



CHANGES IN THE CABINET. 371 

well-known confidence, reposed by the President in General 
Lee, may accurately measure the influence of the latter, upon 
the Confederate military administration. 

In the progress of those events, Avhich have thus far en- 
grossed our attention, notable changes had occurred in the 
cabinet. Early in the summer of 1861, Mr. Toombs had 
surrendered the portfolio of State, and Mr. Hunter, a former 
United States Senator from Virginia, whose name was prom- 
inently associated with the political history of the Union for 
more than twenty years, was placed at the head of the Con- 
federate administration. During the ensuing winter, Mr. 
Hunter retired from the cabinet, and was transferred to the 
Confederate Senate. 

Mr. Benjamin, originally Attorney-General, had been tem- 
porarily assigned to the War Department, upon the resignation 
of Mr. Walker, who was the first incumbent. The connection 
of Mr. Benjamin with the War Office continued for several 
months, when he was transferred to the Department of State, 
where he remained until the overthrow of the Confederacy. 
The period of his administration of the War De})artment 
measures an important space in the history of the Confeder- 
acy. It was a period marked by numerous, consecutive, and 
appalling disasters, and, as has been already seen, Mr. Benja- 
min did not escape the penalty of official position during a 
season of public calamity. We have glanced briefly at the 
question of his official responsibility, not Avith a view of his 
vindication, though wc have denied the justice of the unlim- 
ited reproach, which pursued both himself and Secretary Mal- 
lory, long after even the pretext had disappeared. 

The censure of Mr. Benjamin was based upon the assump- 
tion that he was responsible for reverses, which a more skillful 



372 LIFE OF JEFFERSON DAVIS. 

and attentive management would have avoided. Yet the facts 
establish the declaration of Mr. Davis that those reverses were 
unavoidable. They, indeed, simply foreshadowed the fact, 
which the country soon after realized, of the immense disad- 
vantage of the Confederate forces in all cases where the naval 
facilities of the enemy could be made available. Can it be 
successfully maintained that another in the place of Mr. Ben- 
jamin would have prevented the fall of Forts Henry and 
Donelson, of Roanoke Island, of Newbern, of Memphis, of 
Island No. 10, and of New Orleans? General Randolph, the 
successor of Mr. Benjamin, is universally conceded to have 
made a competent secretary of war during his brief term ; yet 
will it be maintained that had General Randolph, instead of 
Mr. Benjamin, been the successor of Mr. Walker, that all, or 
any of those disasters would have been prevented? 

Mr. Benjamin can hardly be deemed less fortunate than his 
successors. Messrs. Randolph and Breckinridge were, perhaps, 
fortunate in the brief period of their responsibility, or they, 
too, might have shared the public censure so freely lavished 
n}>on Messrs. Walker, Benjamin, and Seddon. 

Perhaps no more thankless position was ever assumed by 
an official than the management of the War Department of 
the Confederate States. The difficult problem propounded by 
Themistocles — "to make a small state a great one" — was of 
easy solution, compared to that presented the luckless incum- 
bent of an office, in which the abundance of responsibilities 
and embarrassments was commensurate only with the poverty 
of resources with which to meet them. To create an army 
from a population of between five and six millions, able to 
successfully cope with an adversary supported by a home 
population of twenty-five millions, aided by the inexhaustible 



THE CHAltGE OF FAVORITISM. 373 

reserves of Europe; with blockaded ports, a newly-organized 
Government, and a country of limited manufacturing means; 
to match in the material of war the wealthiest and most 
j^roductive nation in the world; to maintain the strength and 
efficiency of an army decimated by its own unnumbered vic- 
tories, and from a population depleted by successive conscrip- 
tions, was the encouraging task devolving upon President 
Davis and his Secretary of War. It is, at least, reasonable to 
doubt whether even the genius of Napoleon, or of Carnot, was 
ever summoned to such an enterprise. 

No allegation was made more freely and persistently against 
Mr. Davis than that of favoritism. At times he was repre- 
sented as a merciless, inexorable, capricious master, who would 
tolerate neither intelligence nor indejicndence in his subordi- 
nates, who were required to be the subservient agents of his 
will. Again, he was declared an imbecile puppet in the hands 
of Mr. Benjamin, who, with an amazing protean adaptability, 
assumed the character of Richelieu, Mazarin, Wolsey, or Jef- 
freys, as might meet the convenience of the censors. At all 
times, however, the public was urged to believe Mr. Davis 
was engaged in devising rewards for unworthy favorites, who, 
while obsequious to his whims, insolent in the enjoyment of 
his bounty, and secure under the executive segis, were surely 
carrying the cause to perdition. 

This allegation of favoritism was assumed to have a con- 
spicuous illustration in the case of Mr. Benjamin, for whom 
the President retained his partiality even after he had been 
censured by Congress, and when his unpopularity was not to 
be concealed. The same motive was affirmed, however, in the 
selection of his other advisers ; and to obviate the necessity of 
detail hereafter, we will dispose of this subject at once. 



374 LIFE OF JEFFERSOX DAVIS. 

Despite the persistent assertion to the contrary, tlie fact is 
indisputable, that, in the selection of no single member of his 
cabinet, did Jefferson Davis make use of the opportunity to 
reward either a friend or a partisan. In no case did personal 
favor even remotely influence his choice, save in the a})point- 
nient of Mr. Seddon as Secretary of War — an appointment 
made with the universal acclaim of the public and the news- 
papers. James A. Seddon and Jefferson Davis were, indeed, 
friends of twenty years' standing; but, besides, Mr. Seddon 
M'as recommended not more by the confidence of the President, 
than by the unlimited confidence of the country in his intellect, 
integrity, and patriotism. 

Personal details are frequently not to be denied an impor- 
tant historical bearing, and the motives of Mr. Davis, in the 
choice of his cabinet, claim no insignificant page in his official 
history. We have briefly adverted elsewhere to some of these 
considerations. 

When the Confederate cabinet was organized at Montgom- 
ery, Robert Toombs was placed at its head ; yet between Davis 
and Toombs there had not been close intimacy, hardly mutual 
confidence — certainly nothing like ardent friendship. But 
Mr. Toombs represented an overwhelming majority of the 
people of Georgia, the wealthiest and largest State of the Con- 
federacy at that period, as determined at their last election. 
He was peculiarly the representative public man of Georgia ; 
the most prominent citizen of his State, repeatedly selected 
for its highest honors, and then a reputed statesman. When 
Mr. Toombs resigned, his successor was Mr. Hunter, who had 
served with Mr. Davis in the Senate, and in whose qualifica- 
tions the President had confidence. They had both been 
friends of Mr. Calhoun, and disciples of his political school. 



DELATIONS AVITII HIS CARINET. 375 

Political accord by no means signifies personal intimacy, and 
while Mr. Hunter has many admirers, and was greatly re- 
spected in Virginia and in the Senate, he has not been gener- 
ally accredited with marked sympathetic tendencies. 

Mr. Benjamin was originally made Attorney-General, because 
of his high legal reputation, and because Louisiana was en- 
titled to a representative in the cabinet, but not because of 
personal considerations, since his relations with Mr. Davis 
were neither intimate nor cordial. The partiality of the Presi- 
dent for Mr. Benjamin was, indeed, an after-thought — the 
result of observation of his wonderful mental resources, his 
unequal capacity for labor and zealous devotion to the cause. 

Mr. Mallory was recommended for the Navy Department 
by his previous experience. There had been mutual kind feel- 
ing between himself and Mr. Davis as Senators, but nothing 
like close association. Mr. Davis had never seen Mr. Walker 
until he was appointed Secretary of War, in accordance with 
the emj)]iatic choice of Alabama. General Randolpli was ap- 
pointed solely in consequence of Mr. Davis' convictions of his 
fitness. Previous to the war General Randolph was undistin- 
guished, save in Virginia, where his fine capacity and exalted 
worth were becomingly appreciated. General Breckinridge, 
the last Confederate Secretary of War, was sufficiently recom- 
mended by his talents and position. Mr. Memmingcr was 
made Secretary of the Treasury, not as the friend of Mr. 
Davis, but as the choice of South Carolina. With Mr. Tren- 
holm, his successor, the President had no personal acquaint- 
ance, until he became a member of the cabinet. Mr. Davis, 
tlie last Attorney-General, was originally neither a personal 
friend nor a party associate of the President; nor was Mr. 
Watts, his predecessor. 



376 LIFE OF JEFFERSON DAVIS. 

With the favorable response of Congress and the people to 
the vigorous and timely suggestions of the President, began a 
more spirited prosecution of the war, though the season of 
peril was not yet tided over, nor the current of adversity ex- 
hausted. Already there were numerous indications of the in- 
creased scale, and enlarged theatre of operations, which the war 
now demanded. 

At the conclusion of active operations in the Trans-Missis- 
sippi district, in the autumn of 1861, the State forces of Mis- 
souri, still retaining their separate organization, under General 
Price, and the Confederate forces of McCulloch, were located 
south of Springfield, near the Arkansas line. An unfortunate 
phase of the Southern conduct of the war in this quarter, and 
one from which arose no little apprehension, was the appar- 
ently irreconcilable difference between Generals Price and 
McCulloch. With a view to secure the indispensable element 
of harmony. President Davis, during the winter, appointed 
Major-General Earl Van Dorn, an able and gallant officer, 
to the supreme command of military operations in the Trans- 
Mississippi department. General Van Dorn was a favorite 
with the President, and his services had already been of a 
character to justify the high expectations, indulged not less by 
himself than by the public, of fortunate results of the unan- 
imity, at last secured in a quarter where its absence had been 
severely felt. 

The result of the enemy's movements, begun early in Janu- 
ary, 1862, was the retreat of the weak column of Price to the 
Boston Mountains, in Arkansas, where McCulloch was en- 
camped. This junction of the two commands did not result in 
cooperation until the arrival of General Van Dorn, early in 
March. With a vigor characteristic of this officer's career, 



EVENTS IN THE WEST. 377 

Van Dorn advanced against the enemy, advantageously posted, 
and with numbers superior to his own force. The result was 
the battle of Elk Horn, a brilliant but fruitless engagement, 
in whicii the Southern commander, in consequence of the want 
of discipline among his soldiers, and partially through the 
effects of those earlier dissensions with which he had no con- 
nection, failed to realize the ends at which he aimed.* 

Elk Horn was probably the most considerable engagement, 
in point of the numbers engaged, fought during the war, west 
of the Mississippi. Unimportant in its bearing upon the 
general character of the war, it was a decided check upon the 
aspiration of the Confederate Government to recover Missouri, 
and to give its authority a solid establishment in the Trans- 
Mississippi region. This was afterward the least important 
theatre of the war, though subsequent events there were by no 
means unworthy of record. Even at this early stage, the war 
was rapidly tending to a concentration of the energies of both 
parties, upon the more vital points of conflict in Virginia, and 
the central zone of the Confederacy. A few weeks later Gen- 
erals Van Dorn and Price, with the major portion of the 
Trans-Mississippi army, were transferred to the scene of oper- 
ations east of the great river. 

General Albert Sidney Johnston, after his retreat from 
Nashville, consequent upon the fall of Fort Donelson, paused 
at Murfreesboro', Tennessee, for a sufficient period to receive 
accessions to his force, which increased it to the neighborhood 
of twenty thousand men. These accessions were portions of 
the command lately operating in South-eastern Kentucky, and 
remnants of the forces lately defending Fort Donelson. Gen- 

* In this engagement General Benjamin McCuUoch, of Texan fame, a 
brave and efficient soldier, was killed. 



378 LIFE OF JEFFERSON DAVIS. 

eral Beauregard, having evacuated Columbus, which, in com- 
mon with the other posts of the former Confederate line of 
defense in Kentucky and Tennessee, became untenable with 
the loss of the Tennessee and Cumberland Rivers, concentrated 
his forces at Corinth, in the northern part of Mississippi. 

Tiie evacuation of Columbus did not necessarily give the 
enemy control of the Mississippi above Memphis. A strong 
po;>ition was taken by the Confederate forces at Island No. 10, 
forty-five miles below Columbus. Considerable anticipation 
was indulged by the Southern public, of a successful stand at 
this point for the control of the Mississippi. It was, however, 
captured by the enemy ; and in the loss of two thousand men 
and important material of war by its surrender, the Confeder- 
acy sustained another severe blow, and the Federal Secretary 
of the Navy justly congratulated the North, upon a "triumph 
not the less appreciated because it was protracted and finally 
bloodless." 

The retirement of the forces of General Albert Sidney John- 
ston south of the Tennessee River, and the location of General 
Beauregard's command at Corinth, readily suggested the prac- 
ticability of a cooperation, by those two commanders, for the 
defense of the valley of the Mississippi, and the extensive rail- 
road system, of which Corinth is the centre. With the ap- 
probation of President Davis, a concentration of troops, from 
various quarters, ensued, and, about the first of April, an ad- 
mirable army of forty thousand men was assembled in the 
neighborhood of Corinth, and upon the railroads leading to 
that point. There was no situation during the war more as- 
suring of good fortune to the Confederates, than that presented 
in Northern Mississippi in the early days of April, 1862. Pres- 
ident Davis indulged the highest anticipations from this grand 



A CHEERING rROMTSE DISAPPOINTED. 379 

combinatiou of forces which he so cortlially approved. He 
confidently expected a victory from the Western army, led by 
that officer whose capacity he trusted above all others, which 
should more than compensate for the heavy losses of the pre- 
vious campaign. General Johnston was no less hopeful of the 
situation. The conjuncture was indeed rare in its opportuni- 
ties. The exposed situation of General Grant, whose command 
lay upon the west bank of the Tennessee River, witli a most 
remarkable want of appreciation of its precarious position by 
its commander, and a total absence of provision for its safety, 
invited an immediate attack by the Confederate commander, 
before the Federal column could be reinforced by Buell, then 
making rapid marches from Nashville. 

The incidents of the battle of Shiloh are familiar to the 
world. It constitutes, perhaps, the most melancholy of that 
series of " lost opportunities" in the Confederate conduct of 
the war, upon which history will dwell with sad interest. The 
first day's victory promised fruits the most brilliant and en- 
during. The action of the second day can only be construed 
as a Confederate disaster. Such was the sentiment of the 
South, and such must be the verdict of history. 

Shiloh was, perhaps, the sorest disappointment experienced by 
the South, until the loss of Vicksburg, and the defeat of Gettys- 
burg threatened the approaching climacteric of the Confederacy. 
The public grief at the death of General Johnston was tinged 
with remorse, for the unmerited censure with which the popu- 
lar voice, encouraged by the press, had previously assailed him. 
Not until his death did the South appreciate the worth of this 
great soldier. Never, perhaps, had there been a more sublime 
instance of self-abnegation than was displayed by Sidney John- 
ston. 



380 LIFE OF JEFFERSON DAVIS. 

All through the autumn and winter of 1861 he had main- 
tained his perilous position in Kentucky, confronted by forces 
quadruple his own, and yet assailed by an impatient and ig- 
norant public, for not essaying invasion, with a force which 
subsequent events proved inadequate for defense. But not 
even the hideous array of facts following the reverses of Feb- 
ruary secured his vindication; still he was assailed by an un- 
reasoning public, instigated by a carping, partisan press. He 
was ridiculed as incompetent — as one who had traversed the 
curriculum of West Point, only to become educated in the frip- 
pery of military etiquette. For the first time. President Davis 
was charged with a desire to reward favorites, even at the risk 
of the public welfare, as illustrated by his retention in high 
command, of one whom actual trial had proven incapable, and 
undeserving of his previous reputation. 

But President Davis, happily for his own fame, not less 
than for the fame of this illustrious victim of popular clamor, 
was unmoved by the censures of the public, and the invectives 
of the newspapers. He did not permit the confidence which, 
upon deliberate judgment, and upon a long and intimate ac- 
quaintance, he had reposed in General Johnston, to be shaken, 
and sternly repelled the clamor against him, as he afterwards 
did in the case of Lee, and even of Stonewall Jackson. His 
habitual reply to importunate petitions for the removal of 
Johnston was : " If Sidney Johnston is incompetent to com- 
mand an army, then the Confederacy has no general fit for 
that position." 

Humanity rejoices in no attribute more noble than the ca- 
pacity for warm and enduring friendship ; and there is nothing 
more exalted in the character of Jefferson Davis than his de- 
votion to his friends. At all times as true as steel to those 



TRIBUTE TO SIDNEY JOHNSTON. 381 

for whom he professes attachment, he knows no cold medium, 
cherishes no feeling of indiiference, but his nature kindles re- 
sponsively to the warmth in the bosom of others. A like 
enthusiasm towards himself has usually been the reward of his 
heroic constancy. In Sidney Johnston there was that touching 
union of chivalric generosity and tender sympathy, which pe- 
culiarly qualified him for fellowship with Jefferson Davis. Such 
friendship, as that which united them, rises to the sublimity of 
the noblest virtue, and presents a spectacle honorable to human 
nature. 

President Davis commemorated the death of General John- 
ston in a communication to Congress, and in terms of touch- 
ing and appropriate feeling. Said he: 

" But an all-wise Creator has been pleased, while vouchsafing to 
us His countenance in battle, to afflict us with a severe dispensa- 
tion, to which we must bow in humble submission. The last, 
long, lingering hope has disappeared, and it is but too true that 
General Albert Sidney Johnston is no more. My long and close 
friendship with this departed chieftain and patriot forbid me to 
trust myself in giving vent to the feelings, which this intelligence 
has evoked. Without doing injustice to the living, it may safely 
bo said that our loss is irreparable. Among the shining hosts of 
the great and good who now cluster around the banner of our 
country, there exists no purer spirit, no more heroic soul, than 
that of the illustrious man whose death I join you in lamenting. 
In his death he has illustrated the character for which, through 
life, he was conspicuous — that of singleness of purpose and de- 
votion to duty with his whole energies. Bent on obtaining the 
victory which he deemed essential to his country's cause, he rode 
on to the accomplishment of his object, forgetful of self, while 
his very life-blood was fast ebbing away. His last breath cheered 



382 LIFE OF JEFFEKSON DAVIS. 

his comrades on to victory. The last sound he heard was their 
shout of victory. His last thought was his country, and long and 
deeply will his country mourn his loss." 

The battle of Sliiloh was an incident of the war justifying 
more than a passing notice. Never since Manassas, and never 
upon any subsequent occasion, had the Confederacy an oppor- 
tunity so abundant in promise. The utmost exertions of the 
Government had been employed to make the Western army 
competent for the great enterprise proposed by its commander. 
The situation of Grant's army absolutely courted the tremendous 
blovs^ with which Johnston sought its destruction, a result which, 
in all human calculation, he would have achieved had his life 
been spared. At the moment of his death a peerless victory 
was already won ; the heavy masses of Grant were swept from 
their positions; before nightfall his last reserve had been 
broken, and his army lay, a cowering, shrunken, defeated 
rabble, upon the banks of the Tennessee. That, at such a 
moment, the army should have been recalled from j)ursuit, 
especially when it was known that a powerful reinforcement, 
ample to enable the enemy to restore his fortunes, was hasten- 
ing, by forced marches, to the scene, must ever remain a source 
of profound amazement. 

It was the story of Manassas repeated, but with a far more 
mournful significance. It was not the failure to gather the 
fruits of the most complete victory of the war, nor the irre- 
parable loss of Sidney Johnston, wliich filled the cup of the 
public sorrow. Superadded to these was the alarming discov- 
ery that the second great army of the Confederacy, in the 
death of its commander, was deprived of the genius which 
alone had been proven capable of its successful direction. 
Johnston had no worthy successor, and the AYesteru army 



COMMENTS UPON SHII.OH. 383 

discovered no leader capable of conducting it to the goal 
which its splendid valor deserved. 

A very perceptible diminution of what had hitherto been 
unlimited confidence, not only in the genius, but even in the 
good fortune of Beauregard, was the result of his declared 
failure at Shiloh. Not even his distinguished services, subse- 
quently, were sufficient to entirely effiice that unfortunate rec- 
ord. Military blunders, perhaps the most excusable of human 
errors, are those which popular criticism is the least disposed 
to extenuate. The reputation of the soldier, so sacred to him- 
self, and which should be so jealously guarded by his country, 
is often mercilessly mutilated by that public, upon whose grat- 
itude and iudulgence he should have an uulimited demand. 
We shall not undertake to establish the justice of the public 
verdict, which has been unanimous, that the course of Gen- 
eral Beauregard involved, at least, an " extraordinary aban- 
donment of a great victory." It only remains to state the 
material from which a candid and intelligent estimate is to be 
reached. 

General Beauregard has explained his course, in terms 
which, it is to be presumed, were at least satisfactory to him- 
self. His official report says : " Darkness was close at hand ; 
officers and men were exhausted by a combat of over twelve 
hours without food, and jaded by the march of the preceding 
day through mud and water." 

General Bragg, who conspicuously shared the laurels of the 
first day's action, has recorded a memorable protest against 
the course adopted at its close. Says General Bragg. . . . 
" It was now probably past four o'clock, the descending sun 
warning us to press our advantage and finish the work before 
night should compel us to desist. Fairly in motion, these 



384 LIFE OF JEFFER?;OX DAVIS. 

comman<l,s again, with a common head and a common pur- 
pose, swept all before them. Neither battery nor battalion 
could withstand their onslaught. Passing through camp after 
camp, rich in military spoils of every kind, the enemy was 
driven headlong from every position, and thrown in confused 
masses upon the river bank, behind his heavy artillery, and 
under cover of his gunboats at the landing. He had left nearly 

the whole of his light artillery in our hands." 

Tlie enemy had fallen back in much confusion, and vms croioded, 
in unorganized masses, upon the river banlc, vainly striving to 
cross. They were covered by a battery of heavy guns, well 
served, and their two gunboats, now poured a heavy fire 
upon our supposed position, for we were entirely hid by the 
forest. Their fire, though terrific in sound, and producing some 
consternation at first, did us no damage, as the shells all passed 

over, and, exploded far beyond our position The 

sun was about disappearing, so that little time was left us to 

finish the glorious work of the day Our troops, 

greatly exhausted by twelve hours' incessant fighting, without 
food, mostly responded to the order with alacrity, and the move- 

ment commenced with every prospect of success 

Just at this time, an order was received from the commanding 
general to withdraw the forces beyond the enemy's fire. 

The testimony of General Polk, also a distinguished partici- 
pant in the battle, was concurrent with that of General Bragg, 
and no less emphatic iji its suggestions. In his report is to 
be found the following passage : 

"The troops under my command were joined by those of Gen- 
erals Bragg and Breckinridge, and my fourth brigade, under 
General Cheatham, from the right. The field was clear. The 



COMMENTS UrOX SHILOII. 385 

rest of the forces of the enemy were driven to the river and under 
its bank. We had one hour or more of daylight still left ; were 
within from one hundred and fifty to four hundred yards of the 
enemy's position, and nothing seemed wanting to complete the 
most brilliant victory of the war, but to press forward and make a 
vigorous assault on the demoralized remnant of his forces. 

"At this juncture his gunboats dropped down the river, near 
the landing, where his troops were collected, and opened a tre- 
mendous cannonade of shot and shell over the bank, in the direc- 
tion from which our forces were approaching. The height of the 
plain on which we were, above the level of the water, was about 
one hundred feet, so that it was necessary to give great elevation 
to his guns, to enable him to fire over the bank. The consequence 
was that shot could take efi'ect only at points remote from the 
river's edge. They were comparatively harmless to our troops 
nearest the bank, and became increasingly so to us as we drew near 
the enemy and placed him between us and his boats. 

"Here the impression arose that our forces were waging an 
unequal contest — that they were exhausted, and suffering from a 
murderous fire, and by an order from the commanding general 
they were withdrawn from the field." 

President Davis could only share the universal dissatisfac- 
tion with the unfortunate termination of the battle of Shiloh. 
A conclusive evidence of his forbearance and justice is seen 
in the fact, that Ixe did not avail himself of the opportunity to 
displace an officer, toward whom he was charged with enter- 
taining such bitter and implacable animosity, when public 
sentiment would, in all probability, have approved the expe- 
diency of that step. But General Beauregard was in no danger 
of mean resentment from President Davis, who so frequently 

braved the anger of the public against its distinguished serv- 
25 



386 LIFE OF JEFFERSON DAVIS. 

ants. General Beauregard retained the control of the Western 
army, without interference from the executive, and within 
a few weeks, by the successful execution of his admirable 
retreat from Corinth, which he justly declared "equivalent to 
a brilliant victory," did much to repair his damaged reputa- 
tion.* So eminent, in its perfection and success, was the 

*When General Beauregard had eluded Halleck at Corinth, and 
brought his army to Tupelo, he turned over the command to General 
Bragg, and sought repose and recuperation at Bladon Springs, Alabama. 
Those who assume to be the friends and admirers of General Beauregard, 
but who are far more anxious to establish a mean malignity in the 
character of Mr. Davis, than to exalt their favorite, have laid great stress 
upon the fact, that the President then placed Bragg in command of the 
army for the ensuing campaign, thus placing Beauregard in retirement. 
There can be little difficulty in comprehending the commendable motives 
which prompted Mr. Davis to this course. The period of General Beau- 
regard's absence from his command (three weeks, it is understood) would 
protract the period of inactivity until midsummer. Time was precious. 
The Western army had done nothing but lose ground all the current 
year, and, meanwhile, Lee was preparing his part of the operations, by 
which the Government hoped to throw the enemy back upon the frontier. 
Was, then, the Western army to lie idle, awaiting the disposition and 
convenience of one man? With the approval of the army and the 
country, the President appointed to the vacated command, an able and 
devoted soldier, whose reputation and service justified the trust. The 
writer has seen nothing from General Beauregard approving the assaults 
of his pretended admirers upon Mr. Davis, and it is not unreasonable to 
suppose that he does not indorse them. 

It is also urged that Mr. Davis, when pressed to remove Bragg and 
replace Beauregard, declared that he would not, though the whole world 
should unite in the petition. Very likely, and altogether proper that he 
should not remove an officer while in the actual execution of his plans 
of campaign. But there can be no better explanation than that given by 
Mr. Davis : " The President remarked, that so far as giving Beauregard 



FALL OF NEW ORLEANS. 387 

retreat of Beauregard with his little army from the front of 
Halleck, who had more than one hundred thousand men, that 
a portion of the Northern press admitted that while Shiloh 
made Grant ridiculous, Corinth made a corpse of Halkck's 
military reputation. 

As yet there had been no compensating advantage gained by 
the Confederacy to repair the disasters sustained in the carlv 
part of the year. Indeed, the train of reverses had hardly 
been more than temporarily interrupted, when a calamity hardly 
less serions than the loss of Tennessee happened in the loss of 
New Orleans, the largest, most populous, and most wealthy 
city of the Confederacy. This event was speedily followed by 
the calamitous results- which were to be expected. It was the 
virtual destruction of Confederate rule in Louisiana. It cut 
off the available routes to Texas, so inestimable in its impor- 

command of Bragg's army is concerned, that was out of the question. 
Bragg had arranged all his plans, and had co-intelligence with the De- 
partment, with Kirby Smith, and Humphrey Marshall ; and to put a neio 
commander at the head of the army would be so prejudicial to the public 
interests, he would not do it if the whole world united in the petition." 

But President Davis never designed that General Beauregard should be 
without a command. With that just appreciation of the real merits of his 
generals, apart from the cheap applause or unmerited censure of the 
crowd, which distinguished most of his selections, he placed General 
Beauregard in charge of the coast defenses, where his reputation Avas 
certainly much enhanced. In this oft-repeated and unfounded charge of 
"injustice" and "persecution," in the case of General Joseph E. John- 
ston, as in that of General Beauregard, there is no specification, more 
awkwardly sustained, than that which denies the abundant opportunity 
enjoyed by each of those officers, for the display of the superior genius 
asserted for them by their admirers. The slightest acquaintance with 
the history of the war will verify this statement. 



388 T.TFE OF JEFFERSON DAVIS. 

tance as a source of grain and cattle; gave the enemy a base of 
operations against the entire gulf region, and was altogetlier 
disheartening to the South.* 

Some time previous to the fall of New Orleans, which 
occurred in the latter days of April, the Confederacy had made 
its most serious effort to dispute the hitherto absolute naval 
supremacy of the North. On the 8th of March, 1862, oc- 
curred the famous naval engagement in Hamjiton Roads, be- 
tween the Confederate iron-clad Virginia, and the Federal 
Monitor. Ever since the summer of 1861, the Navy Depart- 
ment had been preparing, at Gosport Navy-yard, a formidable 
naval contrivance — a shot-proof, iron-plated steam battery. 
The result of the experiment was a success, which did much 
to relieve the Navy Department of undeserved reproach, and 
to produce a revolution in theories relating to naval science 
and architecture all over the world. 

About this period the activity of the naval forces of the 
enemy was rewarded by additional successes. The towns of 

* Much crimination and reci'imination followed the fall of New Oi'leans. 
It is, at least, safe to say, that public opinion in the South was much 
divided, as to where the burden of censure for this dire and unexpected 
calamitjr should properly rest. The intelligence of the capture of the city 
was an appalling surprise, not only to the public in Richmond, but to the 
Government. President Davis declared that the event was totally unex- 
pected by him. The fall of New Orleans was one of those instances, in 
■which the Confederates had decided for them, in a most unsatisfactory 
manner, the long disputed question as to the efficiency of shore batteries 
against vessels of war. Precedents established, when sailing vessels were 
used in warfare, were overthrown by the experience of steam vessels, 
especially when iron-plated. Commodore Farragut, with perfect success 
and comparative ease, passed the forts below New Orleans, after the 
chief of the naval force had despaired of their reduction. 



FEDERAL ^'AVAL SUCCESSES. 389 

Newbcrii, AYashingtou, and other places of less note in Korth 
Carolina, were captured by naval expeditions in conjunction 
with detachments from the army of General Burnside. The 
successes of the Burnside expedition, which had been prepared 
by the North with such large expectations, were by no means 
inconsiderable; but they were soon lost sight of in the presence 
of the more absorbing operations in the interior. The naval 
resistance of the South had thus far necessarily been feeble. 
In the subsequent progress of the vvar, except in rare instances, 
it disappeared altogether as an element in the calculation of 
means of defense. 

The vulnerability of the South upon the sea-coast, and along 
the lines of her navigable rivers, measured the extent of the 
good fortune of the enemy. The North was shortly to yield 
a reluctant recognition of the comparatively insignificant influ- 
ence of its long train of triumphs in the promotion of subju- 
gation. Upon the soil of Virginia— classic in its memories of 
contests for freedom, the chosen battle-ground of the Confed- 
eracy—was soon to be shed the effulgence of the proudest 
achievements of Southern genius and valor— a radiance as 
splendid as ever shone upon the blazing crest of war. 



390 LIFE OF JEFFERSON DAVIS. 



CHAPTER XIII. 



THE "anaconda SYSTEM — HOW FAR IT WAS SUCCESSFUL — TERRITORIAL CON- 
FIGURATION OF THE SOUTH FAVORABLE TO THE ENEMY — ONE THEATRE OP 

WAR FAVORABLE TO THE CONFEDERATES THE FEDERAL FORCES IN VIRGINIA 

THE CONFEDERATE FORCES — THE POTOMAC LINES CRITICAL SITUATION IN 

VIRGINIA — EVACUATION OP MANASSAS — TRANSFER OP OPERATIONS TO THE 
PENINSULA — MAGRUDER's LINES — EVACUATION OF YORKTOWN — STRENGTH 
OF THE OPPOSING FORCES BEFORE RICHMOND — DESTRUCTION OF THE "VIR- 
GINIA" — PANIC IN RICHMOND — MR. DAVIs' CALMNESS AND CONFIDENCE — 
HE AVOWS HIMSELF " READY TO LEAVE HIS BONES IN THE CAPITAL OF THE 

confederacy" — REPULSE OF THE GUNBOATS — "MEMENTOES OF HEROISM" 

JACKSON's valley campaign — A SERIES OF VICTORIES, WITH IMPORTANT 
RESULTS — BATTLE OP " SEVEN PINES — A FAILURE — GENERAL JOHNSTON 
WOUNDED — PRESIDENT DAVIS ON THE FIELD — PRESIDENT DAVIS AND GEN- 
ERAL JOHNSTON — AN ATTEMPT TO FORESTALL THE DECISION OP HISTORY — 
RESULTS OF LEe's ACCESSION TO COMMAND — JOHNSTON's GENERALSHIP — 
MR. DAVIs' ESTIMATE OP LEE — LEE's PLANS — THE ADVISORY RELATION BE- 
TWEEN DAVIS AND LEE — THEIR MUTUAL CONFIDENCE NEVER INTERRUPTED — 
CONFEDERATE STRATEGY AFTER m'cLELLAN's DEFEAT BEFORE RICHMOND — 

MAGICAL CHANGE IN THE FORTUNES OF THE CONFEDERACY THE INVASION 

OP MARYLAND ANTIETAM TANGIBLE PROOFS OF CONFEDERATE SUCCESS 

GENERAL BRAGG HIS KENTUCKY CAMPAIGN CONFEDERATE HOPES BATTLE 

OP PERRYVILLE BRAGG RETREATS ESTIMATE OF THE KENTUCKY CAJIPAIGN 

OF 1862 — OTHER INCIDENTS OP THE WESTERN CAMPAIGN — REMOVAL OF 
M'cLELLAN — A SOUTHERN OPINION OP m'cLELLAN — BATTLE OF FREDERICKS- 
BURG — BATTLE OF MURFREESBORO' — BATTLE OF PRAIRIE GROVE — THE SITUA- 
TION AT THE CLOSE OP 1862 — PRESIDENT DAVIs' RECOMMENDATIONS TO 
CONGRESS — HIS VISIT TO THE SOUTH-WEST — ADDRESS BEFORE THE MISSISSIPPI 
LEGISLATURE. 



T 



HE Federal Government frankly accepted the true 
teachings of the war in its earlier stages, and no feature 



THE "anaconda SYSTEM." 391 

of the lesson was more palpable than the inferiority of the 
North in the art of war and military administration. No 
longer trusting, to any extent whatever, to a contest of prowess 
with an enemy whose incomparable su])eriority was already 
established, Mr. Lincoln, his cabinet, and his military advisers, 
were concurrent in their convictions of the necessity of a policy 
which should make available the numerical superiority of the 
North. The " anaconda system " of General Scott, adhered to 
by General McClellan, and sanctioned by the Government and 
the people, though by no means new in the theory and prac- 
tice of war, was based upon a just and sagacious view of the 
situation. 

To overwhelm the South by mere material weight, to crush 
the smaller body by the momentum of a larger force, compre- 
hends the Federal design of the war, undertaken at the incep- 
tion of operations in 1862. The success attending the execu- 
tion of this design we have described in preceding pages. We 
have accredited to the enemy the full extent of his successes, 
and endeavored to demonstrate that they resulted not from 
Confederate maladministration, but from a vigorous and timely 
use of his advantages and opportunity by the enemy. But 
while according to the North unexampled energy in prepara- 
tion, and an unstinted donation of its means to the purpose, 
Avhich it pursued with indomitable resolution, no concession of 
an improved military capacity is demanded, from the fact that 
use was made of obvious advantages not to be overlooked even 
by the stupidity of an Aulic council. 

We have shown that the preponderating influence in the 
achievement of the enemy's victories in the winter and spring 
of 1862, was his naval supremacy. Even at that period it 
was palpable that, without his navy, his scheme of invasion 



392 LIFE OF JEFFEESON DAVIS. 

would be the veriest abortion ever exposed to the ridicule of 
mankind. The maritime facilities of the enemy were, in the 
end, decisive of the contest in his favor. 

Upon those fields of military operations which have thus far 
occupied our attention, we have seen how propitious to the 
enemy's plans, in every instance, was the geographical config- 
uration. Wherever a navigable river emptied into the sea, 
wdiich was the undisputed domain of the North, or intersected 
its territory, a short and, in many instances, almost bloodless 
struggle had ended in the expulsion or capture of the Con- 
federates defending its passage. Yet, in many instances, these 
results had a most serious bearing upon the decision of the 
war. It was impossible for Sidney Johnston to hold Ken- 
tucky and Tennessee unless the Mississippi, running parallel 
with his communications, and the Cumberland and Tennessee, 
running in their rear, should remain sealed to the enemy. It 
Avas equally impracticable to hold the region bordering upon 
the North Carolina sounds after the fall of Roanoke Island. 
After the fall of New Orleans, the entire avenue of the Mis- 
sissippi, except the limited section between Vicksburg and 
Port Hudson, was open to the enemy, giving him bases of 
operations upon both its banks, and opening to his ravages 
vast sections of the Confederacy. 

Thus had the naval supremacy of the enemy brought him, 
in a few days, to the very heart of extensive sections of terri- 
tory, which never could have been reduced to his sway, had he 
been compelled to fight his way overland from his frontiers. 
Thus was the great element of space, usually so potent in the 
defense of an invaded people, annihilated, almost before the 
struggle had been fairly begun. 

The upper regions of Eastern Virginia, remote from the 



THE FEDEEAL ARMIES IN VIRGINIA. 393 

navigable tributaries of the Atlantic and the larger rivers, 
was the only theatre of war, where the superior valor and skill 
of the Confederates could claim success from the Federal hosts, 
deprived of their gunboats and water communications. Here, 
though not entirely neutralized, his water facilities did not at 
all times avail the enemy ; here the struggle was more equal, 
and here was demonstrated that sujaerior manhood and sol- 
diership of the South, which, not even an enemy, if candid, 
will deny. 

Of the seven hundred thousand men, which were claimed as 
under arms for the preservation of the Union, in the begin- 
ning of 1862, it is reasonably certain that more than a half 
million were actually in the field, and of these at least one- 
half, were operating in Virginia, with Richmond as the com- 
mon goal of their eager and expectant gaze. The army of 
McClellan, numbering little less than two hundred thousand 
men, in the vicinity of Washington, was entitled to the lavish 
praise, which he bestowed upon it, in his declaration, that it 
was "magnificent in material, admirable in discipline and in- 
struction, excellently equipped and armed." In the valley 
of the Shenondoah was the army of Banks, more than fifteen 
thousand strong. General Fremont, with about the same 
force, commanded the "Mountain Department," embracing 
the highland region of AVestern Virginia. By the first of 
March these various commands, with other detachments, had 
reached an aggregate of quite two hundred and fifty thousand 
men. 

AVe have sufficiently described those causes, by which the 
already disproportionate strength of the Confederates, previous 
to the adoption of the conscription act, and the inception of 
the more vigorous and stringent military policy of the Con- 



394 LIFE OF JEFFERSON DAVIS. 

federate Government, was reduced to a condition in most 
alarming contrast with the enormous preparations of the 
enemy. 

General Joseph E. Johnston still held his position, with a 
force which, on the first of March, barely exceeded forty thou- 
sand men. The command of General Stonewall Jackson, in 
the Shenandoah Valley, did not exceed thirty-five hundred, 
embracing all arms. General Magruder held the Peninsula 
of York and James Rivers, covering the approaches to Rich- 
mond in that direction, with eleven thousand men, and General 
Huger had at Norfolk and in the vicinity not more than ten 
thousand. The Confederate force in Western Virginia was 
altogether too feeble for successful defense, and indeed, the 
Government had some months previous abandoned the hope 
of a permanent occupation of that region. 

The Confederate authorities had long since ceased to cherish 
hope of offensive movements upon the line of the Potomac. 
Circumstances imposed a defensive attitude, attended with 
many causes of peculiar apprehension for the fate of the issue 
in Virginia. Weeks of critical suspense, and vigilant observa- 
tion of the threatening movements of the Federal forces, were 
followed by the transfer of the principal scene of operations to 
the Peninsula. 

The evacuation of the position so long held by General 
Johnston at Manassas, executed with many evidences of skill, 
but attended with much destruction of valuable material, was 
followed immediately by an advance of General McClellan to 
that place. The necessity of a retirement by General Johnston 
to an interior line had been duly appreciated by the Confed- 
erate Government, though there were circumstances attending 
the immediate execution of the movement, which detracted 



EVACUATION OF MANASSAS. 395 

from its otherwise complete success. The destruction of valu- 
able material, including an extensive meat-curing establish- 
ment, containing large supplies of meat, and established by 
the Government, which ensued upon the evacuation of Manas- 
sas, elicited much exasperated censure. Similar occurrences at 
the evacuation of Yorktown, a few weeks later, revived a 
most unpleasant recollection of scenes incident to the retreat 
from Manassas. The extravagant destruction of property, in 
many instances apparently reckless and wanton, marking the 
movements of the Confederate armies at this period, was a 
bitter sarcasm upon the practice, by many of its prominent 
officers, of that economy of resources which the necessities of 
the Confederacy so imperatively demanded. 

Not only the weakness of his forces indicated to General 
Johnston the perils of his position, but the territorial config- 
uration again came to the aid of the enemy, and gave to Gen- 
eral McClellan the option of several avenues to the rear of the 
Confederate army. It is not improbable that McClellan ap- 
preciated the extremity of Johnston's situation, and has, indeed, 
assigned other reasons for his advance upon Manassas than the 
expectation of an engagement, where the chances would have 
been overwhelmingly in his favor. At all events, the retire- 
ment of General Johnston to the line of the Rapidan, imposed 
upon the Federal general an immediate choice of a base from 
which to assail the Confederate capital. Originally opposed to 
an overland movement via Manassas, McClellan was now 
compelled to abandon his favorite plan of a movement from 
Urbanna, on the Rappahanock, by which he hoped to cut off 
the Confederate retreat to Richmond, in consequence of John- 
ston's retirement behind the Rappahanock. General McClellan 
promptly adopted the movement to the peninsula, a plan which 



39 G LIFE OF JEFFERSON DAVIS. 

he had previously considered, but which he regarded "as less 
brilliant and less promising decisive results." * 

When General Johnston left Manassas, it is probable that 
he was not fully decided as to the position which he should 
select. Eeceiving a dispatch f from President Davis, he halted 
the army, and immediately the President left Richmond for 
Johnston's head- quarters, for the purpose of consultation. 
General Johnston's position now was simply observatory of 
the enemy. It was yet possible that McClellan might under- 
take an overland movement; and, indeed, a portion of his 
force had followed the retreating Confederates. In that event 
Johnston would occupy the line upon which Lee subsequently 
foiled so many formidable Federal demonstrations. From his 
central position he could also promptly meet a serious demon- 
stration against Richmond from the Chesapeake waters or the 
Shenandoah Valley. When the numerous transports at Fort- 
ress Monroe, debarking troops for the peninsula, revealed the 
enemy's real purpose, the army of General Johnston was 
carried to the lines of Magruder, at Yorktown. Johnston 
was, however, decidedly opposed to the movement to the Pen- 
insula, declaring it untenable, and urging views as to the 
requirements of the situation, which competent criticism has 
repeatedly commended. 

* These revelations of the designs of McClellan are derived from the 
admirable vs^ork of Mr. Svrinton — the ' ' History of the A rmy of the Poto- 
mac" — perhaps the ablest and most impartial contribution yet made to 
the history of the late war. 

It is noteworthy that General Grant attempted nearly the same approach 
to Richmond and was signally foiled — a fact which he promptly recog- 
nized, by his change of plan, after his bloody repulse at Cold Harbor, 
June 3, 1864. 

J This dispatch was in substance : " Halt the army where it is." 



FEDERAL DESIGNS. 397 

"While the transfer of Johnston's army to the Peninsula was 
in process of execution, the situation in Virginia was, in the 
highest degree, critical. The strength of Magruder was neces- 
sarily so divided, that the actual force, defending the line 
threatened by McClellan with eighty thousand men, was less 
than six thousand Confederates. Meanwhile the various Fed- 
eral detachments in other quarters were cooperating with the 
main movement of McClellan. Banks and Shields were ex- 
pected, by their overwhelming numbers, to crush Jackson in 
the Shenandoah Valley, and then, forming a junction with the 
large force of Fremont, who was required to capture Staunton, 
it was designed that these combined forces should unite with 
the army of McDowell, advancing from the direction of Fred- 
ericksburg, at some point east of the Blue Ridge. Thus a. 
force, aggregating more than seventy thousand men, threatening 
Richmond from the north, was to unite with McClellan ad- 
vancing from the east. Such was, in brief, the Federal plan 
of campaign, which tha North expected to accomplish the re- 
duction of Richmond and the total destruction of the Confed- 
erate power in Virginia. It does not devolve upon us to 
discuss, in detail, the defects of this faulty combination, but 
the sequel will show how promptly and triumphantly the 
Confederate leaders availed themselves of the opportunity 
presented by this crude arrangement of their adversaries. 

Happily the bold attitude and skillful dispositions of Ma- 
gruder were aided by the over-tentative action of his antagon- 
ist. The latter, greatly exaggerating the force in his front, 
and convinced of the hopelessness of an assault upon the 
Confederate works, permitted the escape of the golden moment, 
and prepared for a regular siege of Yorktown. In the mean- 
time General Magruder describes his situation to have been as 



398 LIFE OF JEFFERSON DAVIS. 

follows: "Through the energetic action of the Government, 
reenforcements began to pour in, and each hour the Army of 
the Peninsula grew stronger and stronger, until anxiety passed 
from my mind as to the result of an attack upon us." 

The untenability of the Peninsula was very soon made a\)- 
parent, and the important advantage of ti7ne having been 
gained, and the escape of General Huger's command from its 
precarious position at Norfolk secured, General Johnston aban- 
doned the works at Yorktown, retreating to the Hue of the 
Chickahominy, near Richmond. This movement was made 
in obedience to the necessities of the situation, and was in 
accordance with his original desire for a decisive engagement 
with McClellan, at an interior point, where a concentration of 
the Confederate forces would be more practicable. General 
McClellan did not pursue the retreating column with much 
energy after the decisive blow given his advance at Williams- 
burg, by Longstreet. 

With the arrival of Johnston upon the Richmond lines, the 
Confederate Government began, with energy and rapidity, the 
concentration of its forces. The superb command of Huger 
was promptly transferred to Johnston, and troops from the 
Carolinas were thrown forward to Richmond as rapidly as 
transportation facilities would permit. By the last of May the 
Confederate forces in front of Richmond reached an aggregate 
of seventy-five thousand men. McClellan had sustained losses 
on the Peninsula which reduced his strength to the neighbor- 
hood of one hundred and twenty thousand. 

A cruel necessity of the evacuation of Norfolk and Ports- 
mouth was the destruction of the Confederate iron-clad 
" Virginia," which had so long prevented the ascent of James 
River by the Federal gunboats. So invaluable was this vessel 



ALARM IN RICHMOND. 399 

in the defense of Richmond, that McClellan had named, as an 
essential condition of a successful campaign on the Peninsula, 
that she should be " neutralized." It was found impossible to 
convey the Virginia to a point unoccupied on either shore of 
the river by the enemy's forces, and, by order of her com- 
mander, the vessel was destroyed. Immediately a fleet as- 
cended the river for the purpose of opening the water highway 
to the Confederate capital. 

The intelligence of the destruction of the " Virginia," and 
the advance of the Federal fleet, was received, in Richmond, 
with profound consternation. No one, unless at that time in 
Richmond, can realize the sense of extreme peril experienced 
by the public. There were few who dared indulge the hope 
of a successful defense of the city against the dreaded "gun- 
boats " and " monitors " of the enemy, which, the people then 
believed, were alike invulnerable and irresistible. 

The wise precautionary measures of the Government, in pre- 
paring its archives for removal, in case of emergency, to a 
point of safety, greatly increased the panic of the public. Ru- 
mors of a precipitate evacuation of the city, by the Confederate 
authorities, were circulated, and there M^as wanting no possible 
element which could aggravate the public alarm, save the calm 
demeanor of President Davis, and the deliberate efforts of the 
authorities — Confederate, State, and municipal — to assure the 
safety of the city. The courage and confidence of the Presi- 
dent, in the midst of this almost universal alarm, in which 
many officers of the Government participated, quickly aroused 
an enthusiastic and determined spirit in the hearts of a brave 
people. Knowing the critical nature of the emergency, he 
was nevertheless resolved to exhaust every expedient in the 
defense of Richmond, and then to abide the issue. His noble 



400 LIFE OF JEFFERSON DAVIS. 

and defiant declaration was : " I am ready and willing to leave 
my bones in the capital of the Confederacy." In response to 
resolutions from the Virginia Legislature, urging the defense 
of the city to the last extremity, he avowed his predetermined 
resolution to hold Richmond until driven out by the enemy, 
and animated his hearers by an assurance of his conviction, 
that, even in that contingency, " the war could be successfully 
maintained, upon Virginia soil, for twenty years."* 

The accounts of the enemy were required to demonstrate 
to the citizens of Richmond, that, by the obstructions in the 
channel of the river, and the erection of the impregnable bat- 
teries at Drewry's Bluff, their homes were again secured from 

*The incidents of this trying period, when Richmond was doubly 
threatened by the hosts of McClellan, and the gunboats in the river, are 
•'mementoes of heroism," proudly illustrating the unconquerable spirit of 
that devoted city and its rulers. We give the resolution passed by the 
Legislature on the occasion referred to — May 14, 1862: 

^^Mesolved by the General Assembly^ That this General Assembly ex- 
presses its desire that the capital of the State be defended to the last 
extremity, if such defense is in accordance with the views of the Presi- 
dent of the Confederate States; and that the President be assured, that 
whatever destruction or loss of property, of the State, or individuals shall 
hereby result, will be cheerfully submitted to." 

Two days after, at a public meeting of the citizens of Richmond, Gov- 
ernor Letcher said, that under no circumstances would he approve the 
surrender of the city, and avowed his readiness to endure bombardment, 
if necessary. In the same stout spirit spoke Mayor Mayo: 

"I say now — and I will abide by it — when the citizens of Richmond 
demand of me to surrender the capital of Virginia, and of the Confeder- 
acy, to the enemy, they must find some other man to fill my place. I will 
resign the mayoralty. And when that other man elected in my stead 
shall deliver up the city, 1 hope I may have physical courage and strength 
enough left to shoulder a musket and go into tlae ranks." 



Jackson's valley campaign. 401 

tlic presence of the invaders. The significance of that brief 
engagement, during which the guns were distinctly audible in 
Richmond, was very soon made evident in the loss of their 
terrors by the Federal gunboats. President Davis was a spec- 
tator of the engagement, by which the Coi\federate capital was 
rescued from imminent peril of capture. 

But the repulse of the gunboats in James River, with its 
assuring and significant incidents, was the precursor of far 
more brilliant successes, which, it was evident, would largely 
affect the decision of the general issue in Virginia. In the 
months of. May and June, 1862, was enacted the memorable 
" Valley campaign " of Stonewall Jackson — a campaign which, 
never excelled, has no parallel in brilliant and accurate con- 
ception, celerity, and perfection of execution, save the Italian 
campaign of Napoleon in 1796, General Jackson's exploits in 
the Valley of the Shenandoah present an aggregate of military 
achievements unrivaled by any record in American history. 

On the 23d of March, Jackson fought the battle of Kerns- 
town, near Winchester, with three thousand Virginians against" 
eighteen full Federal regiments, sustaining, throughout an 
entire day, an audacious assault upon Shields' force, and 
at dark leisurely retiring with his command, after having 
inflicted upon the enemy a loss nearly equal to his own 
strength. Elsewhere has been mentioned the effort made to 
induce President Davis to remove Jackson, in compliance with 
tlie popular dissatisfaction at his failure to achieve, against 
such overwhelming odds, more palpable fruits of victory. The 
immediate consequence of Kernstown was the check of Banks' 
advance in the Valley, and the recall of a large force, then on 
the way from Banks to aid McClellan's designs against 
Johnston. 

26 



402 LIFE OF JEFFERSON DAVIS. 

Leaving General Ewell, whose division had been detached 
from Johnston, to intercept any demonstration by Bunks in 
the Valley, or across the Blue Ridge, Jackson united his com- 
mand with that of General Edward Johnson, a full brigade, 
and defeating the advance of Fremont, under Milroy, at Mc- 
Dowell, compelled a disorderly retreat by Fremont through 
the mountains of Western Virginia. Returning to the Valley, 
he assaulted, with his united foi'ce, the column of Banks, 
annihilated an entire division of the enemy, pursued its fugi- 
tive remnants to the Potomac, and threatened the safety of 
the Federal capital. Alarmed for Washington, Mr. Lincoln 
halted McDowell in his plans of cooperation with McClellan, 
and for weeks the efforts of the Federal Government were 
addressed to the paramount purpose of "catching Jackson." 
Eluding the enemy's combinations, Jackson turned upon his 
pursuers, again defeated Fremont at Cross Keys, and imme- 
diately crossing tlie Shenandoah, secured his rear, and destroyed 
the advance of Shields within sight of its powerless confed- 
erate. Resuming the retreat, Jackson paused at Wqj'cr's Cave, 
and awaited the summons of his superiors to enact his thrill- 
ing role in the absorbing drama at Richmond. Within the 
short period of seventy days, Jackson achieved at Kernstown, 
IMcDowell's, Front Royal, Winchester, Stra.sburg, Harrison- 
burg, Cross Keys, and Port Rei)ublic, eight tactical victories, 
besides innumerable successful combats. But he had done 
more. He had wrought the incomparable strategic achieve- 
ment of neutralizing sixty thousand men with fifteen thou- 
sand ; he had recalled McDowell, when, with outstretched 
arm, McClellan had already planted his right wing, under 
Porter, at Hanover Court-house, to receive the advance of 
the cooperating column from Fredericksburg. 



"seven pines." 403 

Meanwhile the lines of Richmond had been the scene of 
no incident of special interest until the battle of "Seven 
Pines," on the 31st of May. After his arrival upon the 
Chickahominy, MeClellan had been steadily fortifying his 
lines, and wherever an advance was practicable, preparing 
approaches to Richmond. His line, extending over a space 
of several miles, was accurately described by the course of the 
Chickahominy, from the village of Mechauicsville, five miles 
north of Richmouil, to a point about four miles from the citv, 
in an easterly direction. Having partially executed his design 
of bridging the Chickahominy, MeClellan had crossed that 
stream, and in the last days of May, his left wing was forti- 
fied near the locality designated the " Seven Pines." This 
initiative demonstration by MeClellan, which placed his army 
astride a variable stream, was sufficiently provocative of the 
enterprise of his antagonist. To increase the peril of the 
isolated wing of the Federal army, a thunder-storm, occurring 
on the night of the 29th of IMay, had so swollen the Chicka- 
hominy as to render difficult the accession of reenforcements 
from the main body. 

Such was the situation which invited the Confederate com- 
mander to undertake the destruction of the exposed column 
of his adversary — a movement which, if successful, might have 
resulted in the rout of the entire left wing of the enemy, open- 
ing a way to his rear, and securing his utter overthrow. Seven 
Pines was an action, in which the color of victory was entirely 
with the Confederates, but it was the least fruiUil engage 
ment fought by the two armies in Virginia. There was no 
engagement of the war in which the valor of the Confederate 
soldier was more splendidly illustrated, though happily that 
quality then did not require so conspicuous a test. However 



/ 



404 LIFE OF JEFFERSON DAVIS. 

able in design, it was in execution a signal failure — a series 
of loose, indefinite and disjointed movements, wanting in co- 
operation, and apparently in able executive management. 

President Davis, in company with General Lee, was present 
during most of the engagement. Frequently under fire, and 
in consultation with his generals in exposed positions, he was 
conspicuous chiefly by his efforts to animate the troops, and 
his' presence was greeted with evidences of the enthusiasm and 
confidence which it inspired. 

The battle of " Seven Pines," in itself barren of influence 
upon the decision of the campaign, was nevertheless attended 
by an incident — the painful and disabling wound received by 
General Johnston, in all probability decisive of the future 
history of the Army of Northern Virginia. Leading to an 
immediate and positive change of policy, it is hardly a bold 
declaration that this incident determined the future of the war 
in Virginia. 

A disposition has been freely indulged to influence the sen- 
tence of history, by placing President Davis and General 
Johnston in a sort of antithetical juxtaposition, as exponents 
of different theories as to the proper conduct of the war by 
the South. In view of the failure of the Confederacy, it has 
been ingeniously contended that the result vindicated the wis- 
dom of General Johnston's views. But besides its evident un- 
fairness to Mr. Davis, no criticism could be founded less upon 
the intrinsic merits of the case. Overzealous and intemperate 
partisans generally evince aptitude in the exaggeration of 
miiTor diTOrences between the leaders, whose interests they 
profess to have at heart. Such results are not unfrequent in 
the lives of eminent public men. In the case of General 
Beauregard, the unhappy effects of officious intermeddling and 



LEE IN COMMAND. 405 

misrepresentation, from such sources, between the President 
and that distinguished officer, are especially notable. 

But the assumption that events have indicated the wisdom 
of General Johnston's views, in their declared antagonism to 
those of Mr. Davis, is altogether unsustained. The immediate 
results of a change of commanders, and a consequent inaugu- 
ration of a different policy* — a policy in accordance with Mr. 
Davis' own views, may, with far more reason, be alleged in sup- 
port of a contrary theory. The vigorous and aggressive policy 
adopted and executed by Lee not only accorded with the wishes 
of the President, but fulfilled the long-deferred popular expec- 
tation, and agreeably disappointed the public in Lee's capacity. 
For despite' the general disappointment at the absence of de- 
cisive achievements by the Army of Northern Virginia, Gen- 
eral Johnston commanded far more of public confidence, than 
did General Lee at the period of the latter's accession to 
command. 

Nothing could have been more disadvantageous to Lee, than 
the contrast so freely indicated between himself and other 
officers. Johnston was criticised merely because of the absence 
of brilliant and decisive achievements. Lee was assumed to 
have proven his incompetency by egregious failure. He was 
ridiculed as a closet general. His campaigns were said to 
exist only on paper — to consist of slow methodical tactics, and 
incessant industry with the spade, and he was pronounced 

* It is only fair to state that General Johnston proposed operations, 
similar in their main features to those of Lee, though it does not there- 
fore follow that they would have been equally successful. Johnston's 
ability as a strategist can not be questioned, and to those who closely and 
intelligently studied his campaigns, there can be little doubt as to his 
aggressive qualities, though in this respect, results were not in his favor. 



406 LIFE OF JEFFERSON DAVIS. 

totally deficient in aggressive qualities. A prominent Ricli- 
mond editor, criticising his North-western Virginia campaign, 
asserted that the unvarying intelligence from Lee was that he 
was "hopelessly stuck in the mud," and an officer was heard 
to compare him to a terrapin, needing the application of a hot 
coal to his back to compel him to action. But with the 
lapse of a fortnight that army, which received the intelligence 
of Lee's appointment to command with misgiving and distrust, 
began to experience renewed life and hope. It was not the 
few additional brigades given to that army which so soon 
started it upon its irresistible career of victory. A mighty 
hand projected its impetus, and directed its magnificent valor 
against those miles of intrenchments which it had seen grow 
more and more formidable, itself meanwhile an inactive spec- 
tator. 

Lee found the army within sight of Richmond ; he lifted 
it from the mud of the Chickahominy, defeated an enemy in- 
trenched and in superior force ; pursued the panting and dis- 
heartened fugitives to the shelter of their shipping ; defeated a 
second army — then both together — within hearing of the Fed- 
eral capital ; fought an indecisive battle upon the enemy's soil, 
and reestablished the Confederate line upon the frontier. Is it a 
matter of wonder that the President, the army, and the people 
recognized the significance of these results, and ajiplauded the 
substitution of the new system and the new status for the old ? 
A better explanation of so pronounced a contrast is needed 
than that the "prejudice" or "injustice" of Davis withheld 
from Johnston, five or even ten thousand men, which he gave 
to Lee. 

Yet there could be no hypothesis more presumptuous, in 
view of the abundant testimony of competent military judg- 



JOHNSTON S GENERALSHIP. 407 

ment, and none more palpably untenable, than that whicli 
would deny greatness as a soldier to Johnston. As a eonsuru- 
mate master of strategy, in that sense which eontenij>hitcs the 
movements of heavy masses, and looks to grand ultimate 
results, Johnston has probably few equals. His sagacity in 
the divination of an enemy's designs is remarkable ; and if 
he be considered as having marked deficiencies, they must be 
counted as a lack of Jackson's audacity, of Lee's confident 
calculation and executive perfection. The South regards 
Lee as beyond criticism. Jefferson Davis is accustomed to 
say "the world has rarely produced a man to be compared 
with Lee." Yet in mere intellectuality, it is at least 
questionable whether Johnston had his superior among the 
Southern leaders. 

But it often haj)pens that qualities, however great, are not 
those which the occasion demands. That marvelous union of 
qualities in Lee, which has j)laced him almost above parallel, 
probably made him alone adequate to the hazardous posture 
of affairs at Richmond in the summer of 1862. The result, 
at least, made evident to the world, the wisdom of the Presi- 
dent, in that choice, wliicli was at first declared the undeserved 
reward of an incompetent favorite. 

Whatever may be alleged to the contrary, President Davis 
at all times, to the full extent of his power, aided General 
Johnston in the consummation of his desio:ns. To assert that, 
upon any occasion, he either interposed obstacles to Johnston's 
success, or denied him any means in his power to confer, is 
to question tliat personal fidelity of Jefferson Davis, which his 
bitterest enemy should be ashamed to deny. Few Southern 
men, at least, have yet attained that measure of malignity, or 
that hardihood of mendacity. 



408 LIFE OF JEFFERSON DAVIS. 

General Lee was not dilatory in his preparations to gratify- 
that longing aspiration which the President, on his .own be- 
half, and in the name of the country, briefly expressed, that 
" something should be done." Lee had a carte blanche, but 
frequent and anxious were the consultations between the Pres- 
ident and himself. The world now knows what followed those 
days and nights of anxious conference, in which were weighed 
the chances of success, the cost of victory, and the possibilities 
of defeat. The plan executed by General Lee was one of the 
most hazardous ever attempted in war, but it was- not less 
brilliant than bold, and at least one precedent had been fur- 
nished by the great master of the art of war at Austerlitz. 
Its perils were obvious, but the sublime confidence of Lee in 
the success of his combinations went far to secure its own jus- 
tification. 

During the week of engagements which followed, the Pres- 
ident was constantly with the army and fully advised of its 
movements.* The cordial recognition of this advisory rela- 
tion between himself and Lee, is indicated by the natural 
pride, and becoming sense of justice, with which the latter, in 
the report of his operations against McClellan, mentions the 
approving presence of the President, during the execution of 

* Mr. Davis was every day upon the battle-field, and from this circum- 
stance the impression prevailed in Richmond that he was directing the 
army in person. A common report, which I have never seen contradicted, 
was that the President narrowly escaped death during the progress of the 
battles. As related to the writer, the circumstance was as follows: The 
President, in company with General Magruder and other ofl5cers, was at 
a farm-house, upon which one of the Federal batteries was preparing to 
open. General Lee, apprised of the President's whereabouts, sent a cou- 
rier to warn him of his danger, and he and his companions escaped with- 
out injury, just as the Federal battery opened fire. 



DAVIS AND LEE. 409 

his plans. Tliis noble harmony between Davis and Lee, 
equally creditable to each, was never interrupted by one sin- 
gle moment of discord. It was never marred by dictation on 
one side, or complaint on the other. Unlike other command- 
ers, Lee never complained of want of means, or of opportunity 
for the execution of his plans. Satisfied that the Government 
was extending all the aid in its power, he used, to the best 
advantage, the means at hand and created his opportunities. 
Lee never charged the President with improper interference 
with the army, but freely counseled with his constitutional 
commander-in-chief, whom he knew to be worthy of the trust 
conferred by the country in the control of its armies. Presi- 
dent Davis fully comprehended and respected the jealous func- 
tions of military command, and in the exercise of that trust 
no one would have more quickly resented unauthorized official 
interference. A soldier himself, he recognized freedom of ac- 
tion as the privilege of the commander; as a statesman, he 
rendered that cordial cociperation, which is the duty of gov- 
ernment. 

When Lee had driven McClellan from his position along 
the Chickahominy, he had raised the siege of Richmond. The 
retreat of McClellan to the James River, conducted with such 
admirable skill, and aided by good fortune, placed the Federal 
army in a position where, secure itself, another offensive move- 
ment against the Confederate capital might, in time, be un- 
dertaken. Confederate strategy, however, soon relieved Rich- 
mond from the apprehension of attack, and in less than two 
months from the termination of the pursuit of McClellan, Lee, 
by a series of masterly strokes, demolished the armies under 
Pope, united for the defense of Washington, and was prepar- 
ing an invasion of Maryland. 



410 LIFE OF JEFFEESON DAVIS. 

An almost magical change in the fortunes of the Confeder- 
acv was wrought by these active and brilliant operations, em- 
bracing so short a period, and marked by results of such mag- 
nitude. 

Not only were the two main armies of the enemy defeated, 
but the entire Federal campaign in the East had been entirely 
disconcerted. Richmond was saved, Washington menaced, 
and McClellan forced back to the initial point of his cam- 
paign. Western Virginia, the Carolina coast, and other local- 
ities, for months past in Federal occupation, were almost 
divested of troops to swell the hosts gathering for the rescue 
of Washington, and to meet the dreaded advance, northward, 
of Lee's invincible columns. From the heart of Virginia the 
cloud of war was again lifted to the Potomac frontier ; the 
munificent harvests of the valley counties, of Fauquier, Lou- 
don, and the fertile contiguous territory, were again in Con- 
federate possession, and a numerous and victorious army Avas 
now anxious to be led across the Rubicon of the warring 
sections. 

From harrowing apprehension, from vague dread of inde- 
finable but imminent peril, the South was transported to the 
highest round of confident expectation. The North, which, in 
the last days of June, eagerly awaited intelligence of McClel- 
lan's capture of Richmond, now regarded its own capital as 
doomed, and did not permit itself to breathe freely until 
McClellan announced the safety of Pennsylvania, when Lee 
had retired to Virginia. 

The inducements which invited a movement of the Con- 
federate forces across the Potomac were manifold. Whatever 
judgment the result may now suggest, the invasion of Mary- 
land was alike dictated by sound military policy and justi- 



INVASION OF MATIYT>AND. 411 

fied by those moral considerations which are ever weighty in 
war. The overwhehning defeat of Pope more than realized 
the hope of President Davis and General Lee, when the stra- 
tegic design of a movement northward was put in execution, 
by which was sought the double purpose of withdrawing 
McClellan from James. River and effectually checking the 
advance of Pope. The successive and decisive defeats of Pope 
offered the prospect of an offensive by which the splendid 
successes of the campaign might be crowned with even more 
valuable achievements. Demoralized, disheartened, in every 
way disqualified for effectual resistance, the remnants of the 
armies which Lee had beaten, each in succession, and then 
combined, would be an easy prey to his victorious legions, 
could they be brought to a decisive field engagement. There 
yet remained time, before the end of the season of active oper- 
ations, for crushing blows at the enemy, which would finish 
the work thus far triumphantly successful. 

To inflict still greater damage upon the enemy — to so oc- 
cupy him upon the frontier as to prevent another demon- 
stration against Richmond during the present year— ^to indi- 
cate friendship and sympathy for the oppressed people of 
Maryland — to derive such aid from them as their condition 
would enable them to extend, were the potent inducements 
inviting the approbation of the Confederate authorities to a 
movement across the Potomac. President Davis was pledged 
to an invasion of the enemy's country whenever it should 
prove practicable. Now, if ever, that policy was to be ini- 
tiated. Hitherto the enemy's power, not the will of the 
Confederate Government, had prevented. Now that power 
was shattered. The mighty fabric trembled to its base, and 
who would now venture to estimate the consequences of a 



412 LIFE OF JEFFERSON DAVIS. 

brilliant victory by Lee, on Maryland soil, in September, 
1862? What supjwrter of the Union can now dwell, without 
a shudder, upon the imagination, even, of a repetition, at Autie- 
tam, of the story of the Chickahominy, or Second Manassas? 

The climax of the Maryland campaign was the battle of 
Antietam — a drawn battle, but followed by the early with- 
drawal of the Confederate army into Virginia. It is unneces- 
sary to dwell upon the causes conspiring to give this portion 
of the campaign many of the features of failure. With a force 
greatly reduced by the straggling of his weary and exhausted 
troops, Lee was unable to administer the crushing blow which 
he had hoped to deliver.* As a consequence, the people of 
Maryland, of whom a large majority were thoroughly patriotic 
and warm in their Southern sympathies, were not encouraged 
to make that effective demonstration which would inevitably 
have followed a defeat of McClellan. 

Nevertheless, there was some compensation in the terrible 
punishment inflicted upon the enemy at Antietam; and there 
was the heightened prestige, so greatly valued by the South at 
this period, in the eyes of Europe, arising from the temper 
and capacity of the weaker combatant to undertake so bold an 
enterprise. In the tangible evidences of success afforded by the 
caj)ture of Harper's Ferry, with its numerous garrison su})plies 
of arms and military stoi-es, was seen additional compensation 
for the abandonment of the scheme of invasion. 

* A serious disadvantaire suffered by General Lee was the capture of hie 
plan of l^attle by (General McClellan. Completely informed as to his ad- 
versivry's movements, and Avith ninety thousand men against thirty-three 
thousand, the wonder is, that McClellan did not overwhelm the Confeder- 
ate anny. The means Ijy which tlie enemy obtained this important paper 
was a subject of much j^ossip iu the Confederacy. 



THE KENTUCKY CAMrATGN. 413 

An interval of repose was permitted the Army of Northern 
Virginia, after its return from Maryland, in its encampments 
near "Winchester, during wliich it was actively strengthened 
and recruited to the point of adequate preparation for ex- 
pected demonstrations of the enemy. 

The operations of the Western army, in many respects, were 
a brilliant counterpart to the campaign in Virginia, though 
lacking its brilliant fruits. We have mentioned the circum- 
stance which placed General Braxton Bragg in command of 
the Western army, after its successful evacuation of Corinth. 
General Bragg was equally high in the confidence of the 
President and the Southern people. Greatly distinguished by 
his services in Mexico, his skillful handling, at Shiloh, of the 
magnificent corps of troops, which his discipline had made a 
model of efficiency, more than confirmed his Mexican fame. 

Space does not permit us to follow, in detail, the execution 
of the able and comprehensive strategy, by which General 
Bragg relieved large sections of Tennessee and Alabama from 
the presence of the enemy, penetrated the heart of Kentucky, 
maintained an active offensive during the summer, and trans- 
ferred the seat of war to the Federal frontier. A part of these 
operations was the hurried retreat of Buell's immense army, 
from its posts in Alabama and Tennessee, for the defense of 
Louisville and Cincinnati ; large captures of prisoners, horses, 
arms and military stores; and the brilliant progress and 
successive victories of Kirby Smith and Morgan. For weeks 
the situation in Kentucky seemed to promise the unqualified 
success of the entire Western campaign. There was, indeed, 
reasonable hope of a permanent occupation of the larger 
portion of Kentucky and Tennessee by the Confederate 
forces. 



414 LIFE OF JEFFERSON DAVIS. 

But the battle of Periyvilie — an engagement not unlike 
Antietam in its doubtiiil claim as a Federal victory — was fol- 
lowed by the retreat of General Bragg, which was executed 
witli skill, and with results going far to relieve the disappoint- 
ment of tlie [)opular hope of a permanent occupation of Ken- 
tucky. Bucll, on his arrival at Louisville, whither he had re- 
treated, received heavy reenforccments, which greatly increased 
his already superior numbers; and Perryviile, a battle which 
General Bragg fought, rather to secure his retreat than with 
the expectation of a decisive victory, would have been an over- 
whelming Confederate success, had Bragg been sufficiently 
strong to follow up his advantage. 

No Confederate commander, save Lee and Jackson, was ever 
able to present a claim of a successful campaign so well grounded 
as the Kentucky campaign of Bragg. With a force of forty 
thousand men, he killed, wounded, and captured more than 
twenty thousand of the enemy ; took thirty pieces of artillery, 
thousands of small arms ; a large supply of wagons, harness, 
and horses ; and an immense amount of subsistence, ample not 
only for the sui^nort of his own army, but of other forces of 
the Confederacy! ^ During the succeeding autumn and winter, 
Bragg's army was conspicuous for its superior organization, 
admirable condition and tone ; was abundantly supplied with 
food and clothing, and in larger numbers than when it started 
upon its campaign in August. Moreover, General Bragg re- 
deemed North Alabama and Middle Tennessee, and recovered 
possession of Cumberland Gap, the doorway, through the 
mountains, to Knoxville and the Virginia and Tennessee Rail- 
road — the main avenue from Richmond to the heart of the 
Confederacy. Evincing his determination to hold the recov- 
ered territory, General Bragg, within a mouth from his return 



GENERAL m'CLELLAX. 415 

from Kentucky, was confronting the principal army of the 
enemy, in the West, before Nashville. 

Incidental to the movement of Bragg into Kentucky, and 
constituting a part of the programme, attempted upon the 
large theatre of the Western campaign, were the repulse of 
the first attack of the enemy upon Vicksburg, the partial fail- 
ure of General Breckinridge's expedition to Baton Rouge, and 
the serious reverse sustained by Van Dorn at Corinth. In 
connection with the more important demonstration into Ken- 
tucky, these incidents of the Western campaign may be briefly 
aggregated as the recovery of the country between Nashville 
and Chattanooga, and the important advantage of a secure 
occupation of Vicksburg and Port Hudson, thus closing the 
Mississippi to the enemy for two hundred miles. 

Subsequent operations in Virginia, at the close of 1862, 
were entirely favorable to the Confederacy. While the two 
armies were confronting each other, with the imminent pros- 
pect of active and important operations. General McClellan 
was relieved, and one of his corps commanders. General Burn- 
side, assigned to the command of the Federal army of the 
Potomac. As is now universally acknowle^.^v.d, General jSIc- 
Clellan was sacrificed to the clamor oi a political faction. By 
this act Mr. Lincoln became responsible for much of the ill- 
fortune which awaited the Federal arms in Virginia. 

Perhaps among his countrymen, a Southern tribute to Gen- 
eral McClellan may constitute but feeble praise. He was un- 
questionably the ablest and most accomplished soldier exhib- 
ited by the war on the Northern side. " Had there been no 
IMcClellan," General Meade is reported to have said, "there 
would have been no Grant." In retirement, if not exile, 
General McClellan saw the armies which his genius created, 



416 LIFE OF JEFFERSON DAVIS. 

achieve undeserved distinction for men, his inferiors in all that 
constitutes true generalship. He saw the feeble and wasted 
remnant of an army, with which he had grappled in the day 
of its glory and strength, surrender to a multitudinous host, 
doubly as large as the army with which he had given Lee his 
first check at Antietam. A true soldier, McClellan was also 
a true gentleman, an enemy whose talents the South respects 
none the less, because he did not wantonly ravage its homes, 
nor make war upon the helpless, the aged, and infirm. Presi- 
dent Davis, who, while Federal Secretary of War, conferred 
upon McClellan a special distinction, held his genius and at- 
tainments in high estimation. He received the intelligence of 
his removal with profound satisfaction. 

The North was not required to wait long for a competent 
test of the new commander's capacity. Foiled and deceived 
by Lee, in a series of maneuvres, the results of which made 
him only less ridiculous than the gasconading Pope among 
Federal commanders, Burnside finally assailed Lee, on the 
13th December, at Fredericksburg. The result was a bloody 
slaughter, unequaled in previous annals of the war, an over- 
whelming repulse, and a demoralized retreat across the Rap- 
pahannock. 

The Western campaign terminated with the battle of Mur- 
freesboro'. The Federal commander, Rosecrans, the successor 
of Buell, advanced from Nashville to drive Bragg from his 
position. A brilliant and vigorous attack by Bragg, on the 
31st December, routed an entire wing of the Federal army; 
on the second day the action was more favorable to Bosecrans, 
who had retreated, after his reverse on the first day, to stronger 
positions. Receiving information that the enemy was strongly 



IMPEOVED PEOSPECTS OF THE CONFEDEEACY. 417 

reenforcing, General Bragg fell back to Tullahoma, a position 
more favorable for strategic and defensive purposes. 

The transfer, after the battle of Shiloh, of the troops of 
Price and Van Dorn to the army east of the Mississippi, had 
almost divested the Trans-Mississippi Department of interest in 
the public mind. After Elk Horn, there was but one consid- 
erable engagement, in 1862, west of the Mississippi. This was 
the battle of Prairie Grove, a fruitless victory, won by Gen- 
eral Hindman, about the middle of December. The country 
north of the Arkansas River continued to be nominally held 
by the Federal forces. 

Thus, in nearly every quarter, the second year of the war 
terminated with events favorable to the prospects of Southern 
independence. Though the territorial jurisdiction of the Con- 
federacy was contracted, the world was not far from regarding 
the task of subjugation as already a demonstrated and hope- 
less failure. All the invasive campaigns of the enemy, save 
the first shock of his overwhelming onsets against weak and 
untenable posts, in the winter and early spring, had been 
brought to grief, and nowhere had he maintained himself away 
fi'om his water facilities. An unexampled prestige among 
nations now belonged to the infant power, which had carried 
its arms from the Tennessee to the Ohio, had achieved a week 
of victories before its own capital, and carried the w^ar back 
to its threshold. After such achievements the Southern Con- 
federacy rightly claimed from those powers which have assumed 
to be the arbiters of international right an instant recognition 
upon the list of declared and established nationalities. 

In our brief and cursory glance at military operations, 
we have omitted to mention the action of the Government 
designed to promote the successful prosecution of the war. 
27 



418 LIFE OF JEFFEESON DAVIS. 

This action is mainly comprehended by the various sug- 
gestions of the President's messages to Congress. These rec- 
ommendations related chiefly to measures having in view the 
increased efficiency of the service. He invited the attention 
of Congress, especially, to the necessity of measures securing 
the proper execution of the conscription law, and the consoli- 
dation of companies, battalions and regiments, when so reduced 
in strength as to impair that uniformity of organization, 
which was necessary in the army. Legislation was urged, 
having in view a better control of military transportation on 
the railroads, and the improvement of their defective condi- 
tion. The President also recommended various propositions 
relating to organization of the army, and an extension of the 
provisions of the conscription law, embracing persons between 
the ages of thirty-five and forty-five years. 

About the middle of December President Davis visited the 
camps of the Western Department, spending several weeks in 
obtaining information as to the condition and wants of that 
section of the Confederacy, and devising expedients for a more 
successful defense in a quarter where the Confederate cause 
was always seriously menaced. His presence was highly bene- 
ficial in allaying popular distrust, founded upon the supposi- 
tion that Virginia and the Atlantic region engrossed the at- 
tention of the Government to the exclusion of concern for the 
West and the Mississippi Valley. When the President re- 
turned to Richmond, there were signs of popular animation 
in the South-west, which justified a more confident hope of 
the cause, than the South was permitted to indulge at any 
other period of the struggle. 

An incident of this visit was the address of the President 
before the Mississippi Legislature. The warm affection of 



MR. DAVIS IN MISSISSIPPI. 419 

Mr. Davis for Mississippi is more than reciprocated by the 
noble and chivalrous people of that State. He was always 
proud of the confidence reposed in him by such a community, 
and Mississippi can never abate her affection for one who so 
illustrated her name in the council chamber and upon the field 
of battle. In this address he alluded, with much tenderness, 
to this reciprocal attachment, declaring, that though "as 
President of the Confederate States, he had determined to 
make no distinction between the various parts of the country — 
to know no separate State — yet his heart always beat more 
warmly for Mississippi, and he had looked on Mississippi 
soldiers with a pride and emotion, such as no others inspired." 
Declaring that his course had been dictated by the sincere 
purpose of promoting the cause of independence, he admon- 
ished the country to prepare for a desperate contest, with a 
power armed for the purposes of conquest and subjugation. 
He characterized severely the conduct of the war by the 
North. Reviewing its progress, and recounting the immense 
disadvantages, with which the South contended, he maintained 
that the South should congratulate itself on its achievements, 
and not complain that more had not been aceomi3lished. The 
conscription law was explained and defended as to many of 
its features not clearly understood by the people. We give 
an extract from Mr. Davis' remarks as to the Confederate 
conscription, a subject of vast misrepresentation during the 
war, and of much ignorant censure since : 

" I am told that this act has excited some discontentmeut, and 
that it has provoked censure far more severe, I believe, tlui^ it 
deserves. It has been said that it exempts the rich from miUtary 
service, and forces the poor to fight the battles of the country. 
The poor do, indeed, fight the battles of the country. It is the 



420 LIFE OF JEFFEESON DAVIS. 

poor who save nations and make revolutions. But is it true that, 
in this war, the men of property have shrunk from the ordeal of 
the battle-field ? Look through the army ; cast your eyes upon 
the maimed heroes of the war whom you meet in your streets and 
in the hospitals ; remember the martyrs of the conflict ; and I am 
sure you will find among them more than a fair proportion drawn 
from the ranks of men of property. The object of that portion 
of the act which exempts those having charge of twenty or more 
negroes, was not to draw any distinction of classes, but simply to 
provide a force, in the nature of a police force, sufl&cient to keep 
our negroes in control. This was the sole object of the clause. 
Had it been otherwise, it would never have received my signature. 
As I have already said, we have no cause to complain of the 
rich. All our people have done well ; and, while the poor have 
nobly discharged their duties, most of the wealthiest and most 
distinguished families of the South have representatives in the 
ranks. I take, as an example, the case of one of your own repre- 
sentatives in Congress, who was nominated for Congress and 
elected, but still did a sentinel's duty until Congress met. Nor 
is this a solitary instance, for men of largest fortune in Mississippi 
are now serving in the ranks." 

The President strongly and eloquently recommended the 
provision by the Legislature for the families of the absent 
soldiers of Mississippi. Said he : " Let this provision be made 
for the objects of his affection and his .solicitude, and the sol- 
dier, engaged in fighting the battles of his country, will no 
longer be disturbed in his slumbers by dreams of an unpro- 
tect(jd and neglected family at home. Let him know that his 
mother Mississippi has spread her protecting mantle over those 
he loves, and he will be ready to fight your battles, to protect 
your honor, and in your cause to die." 



MR. DAVIS' VIEW OF THE SITUATION. 421 

The address concluded with an earnest appeal for unrelaxed 
exertion, and the declaration that, "in all respects, moral as 
well as physical, the Confederacy was better prepared than it 
was a year previous" — a declaration verified not less by the 
favorable situation than by the evident apprehension of the 
North and the expectations of Europe. 



422 LIFE OF JEFFERSON DAVIS. 



CHAPTER XIV. 



RESPECT OP MANKIND FOR THE SOUTH — THE MOST PROSPEROUS PERIOD OP THE 
WAR — HOW MR. DAVIS CONTRIBUTED TO THE DISTINCTION OF THE SOUTH — 
FACTION SILENCED — THE EUROPEAN ESTIMATE OF JEFFERSON DAVIS — HOW 
HE DIGNIFIED THE CAUSE OF THE SOUTH — HIS STATE PAPERS — HIS ADMINIS- 
TRATION OF CIVIL MATTERS — THE CONTRAST BETWEEN THE TWO PRESIDENTS 
— MR. DAVIs' OBSERVANCE OF CONSTITUTIONAL RESTRAINTS — ARBITRARY AD- 
MINISTRATION OF MR. LINCOLN — MR. DAVIs' MODERATION — HE SEEKS TO CON- 
DUCT THE WAR UPON CIVILIZED IDEAS — AN ENGLISH CHARACTERIZATION OP 
DAVIS — COLONEL FREEMANTLE's INTERVIEW WITH HIM — MR. GLADSTONE'S 
OPINION — THE PURELY PERSONAL AND SENTIMENTAL ADMIRATION OF EUROPE 
FOR THE SOUTH — INCONSISTENT CONDUCT OF THE EUROPEAN GREAT POWERS — 
THE LONDON " TIMES " BEFORE m'cLELLAn's DEFEAT — THE CONFEDERACY EN- 
TITLED TO RECOGNITION BY EUROPE — ENGLAND'S SYMPATHY WITH THE NORTH 
— DIGNIFIED ATTITUDE OF PRESIDENT DAVIS UPON THE SUBJECT OF RECOGNI- 
TION — HIS EARLY PREDICTION UPON THE SUBJECT — FRANCE AND ENGLAND 
EXPOSED TO INJURIOUS SUSPICIONS — TERGIVERSATIONS OP THE PALMERSTON 
CABINET THE BROAD FARCE OF "BRITISH NEUTRALITY" — ENGLAND DE- 
CLINES TO UNITE WITH FRANCE IN AN OFFER OF MEDIATION BETWEEN THE 
AMERICAN BELLIGERENTS— England's "policy" — SHE SOUGHT THE RUIN OF 
BOTH SECTIONS OF AJIERICA — CULMINATION OF THE ANTISLAVERY POLICY OP 
THE NORTH — MR. LINCOLN'S CONVERSATION WITH A KENTUCKY MEMBER OP 
CONGRESS — THE WAR A " CRIME " BY MR. LINCOLN'S OWN SHOWING — VIOLA- 
. TION OP PLEDGES AND ARBITRARY ACTS OP THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT — THE 
MASK REMOVED AFTER THE BATTLE OP ANTIETAM — THE REAL PURPOSE OP 
EMANCIPATION — MR. DAVIs' ALLUSION TO THE SUBJECT — INDIGNATION OF THE 

SOUTH AT THE MEASURE MILITARY OPERATIONS IN TEXAS AND MISSISSIPPI 

VICKSBURG PORT HUDSON LOSS OF ARKANSAS POST FEDERAL FLEET RE- 
PULSED AT CHARLESTON PREPARATIONS FOR THE CAMPAIGN — UNITY AND 

CONFIDENCE OF THE SOUTH — MR. DAVIs' ADDRESS TO THE COUNTRY — IMPOR- 
TANT EXTRACTS GENERAL LEE PREPARES FOR BATTLE — HIS CONFIDENCE — 

CONDITION OF HIS ARMY — BATTLE OP CHANCELLORSVILLE — JEFFERSON DAVIs' 
TRIBUTE TO STONEWALL JACKSON. 



T 



HERE is much justice in the sentiment that declares 
that there can be maojnificence even in failure. Men 



THE EUROPEAN ESTIMATE OF MR. DAVIS. 423 

often turn to the contemplation of roles enacted in historv, 
ending in disaster and utter disappointment of the originating 
and vitalizing aspiration, with flir more of interest than has 
been felt in following records marked by the palpable tokens 
of complete success. 

It may. well be doubted, whether the Confederate States of 
America, even had victory crowned their prolonged struggle 
of superhuman valor and unstinted sacrifice, could have corn- 
manded more of the esteem of mankind, than will be awarded 
them in the years to come. Retrospect of the most prosperous 
period of the fortunes of the Confederacy — the interval be- 
tween the battle of Fredericksburg, December, 1862, and the 
ensuing midsummer — reveals a period in which there was 
wanting no element of glory, of pride, or of hope. Many a 
people, now proudly boasting an honored recognition at the 
council-board of nations, might envy the fame of the meteor 
power which flashed across the firmament, with a glorious 
radiance that made more mournful its final extinguishment. 

A notable feature of the distinction which the South, at that 
time especially, commanded in the eyes of the world, was the 
enthusiastic and universal tribute of mankind to the leader, 
whose genius, purity, dignity, and eloquence so adorned the 
cause of his country. The North sought to console its wounded 
national pride by accounting for the crushing and humiliating 
defeats of the recent campaign, by contrasts between the 
able leadership of its antagonist, and its own imbecile admin- 
istration. At the South faction was silenced, in the presence 
of the wondrous results achieved in spite of its own outcries 
and prophecies of failure. Demagogues, in such a season of 
good fortune, ceased their charges of narrowness, of rash 
zealotry, of favoritism, of incompetency, seemingly conscious, 



424 LIFE OF JEFFEESON DAVIS. 

for once, of the praise which they bestowed upon the Exec- 
utive, whom they accused of usurping all the authority of 
the Government, in ascribing such results to his unaided ca- 
pacity. 

From Europe, in the beginning, so prejudiced against the 
South and its cause, so misinformed of Southern motives, and 
unacquainted with Southern history, came the tribute of dis- 
interested eulogy, the more to be valued, because reluctantly 
accorded, to the Confederacy and its ruler. To Europe the 
South was now known not only through a series of unparal- 
leled victories ; as a people who had successfully asserted their 
independence for nearly two years, against such odds as had 
never been seen before ; as a land of valiant soldiers, of great 
generals, and of large material resources. If possible, above 
these, the statesmen and politicians of Europe admired the 
administrative capacity, which, they declared, had given a su- 
perior model and a new dignity to the science of statesman- 
ship. To the educated circles of Europe the new power was 
introduced by State papers, which were declared to be models, 
not less of skilled political narration and exposition, than of 
literary purity and excellence. Accustomed to hear the South 
twitted as a people dwarfed and debased by the demoralization 
of African slavery, the educated classes of England acknowl- 
edged the surprise and delight they experienced from the power- 
ful and splendid vindications of the cause of the Confederacy, in 
the messages of Mr. Davis. It has been truthfully remarked 
that there could be no better history of the war than that con- 
tained in his numerous state papers. They are the exhaust- 
ive summary, and unanswerable statement of the imperishable 
truths which justify the South, and overwhelm her enemies with 
the proof of their own acts of wrong and violence. 



CIVIL ADMINISTRATION. 425 

Under the new light given to mankind, as to the origin, 
nature, and purposes of the American Union, which Mr. Davis 
so lucidly explained, Europe soon recognized his position as 
something else than that of a ruler of an insurgent district. 
But not only as the chosen Executive of eleven separate 
communities, several of which European governments had 
previously recognized as sovereign ; as one who had organized 
great armies, maintained them in the field, and selected lead- 
ers for their command already illustrious in the annals of war; 
not for these and other features of enduring fame, alone, was 
JefPerson Davis admired in Europe. The contrast between 
the civil administrations of the hostile sections was viewed as, 
perhaps, the chiefly remarkable phase of the struggle. 
, President Lincoln, beginning the war with usurpation, had 
committed, in its progress, every possible trespass upon the 
Federal Constitution, and was now under the influence of a 
faction whose every aim contemplated the overthrow of that 
instrument. President Davis, supported by a confiding peo- 
ple, and an overwhelming majority of every Southern com- 
munity, ruled in strict conformity with the laws of the land 
and its Constitution. In the midst of a revolution, unexam- 
pled in magnitude, in fierceness, and vindictiveness on the part 
of the enemy, and of difficulties in his own administration, he 
furnished an example of courage, humanity, and magnanimity, 
together with the observance of order, civil freedom, and legal 
and constitutional restraints unexampled in histor}^ In the 
Confederacy, the Roman maxim. Inter arma silent leges, uni- 
versally recognized and practiced among nations, had an em- 
phatic repudiation, so far as concerned the exercise of power 
by the executive department. "Whatever may have been the 
exceptional cases of unauthorized oppression or violence, there 



426 LIFE OF JEFFEESON DAVIS. 

was always redress in the judiciary department of the Govern- 
ment, which continued in pure and dignified existence until 
the end. 

The President, obeying the dictates of exalted patriotism — 
acting always for the public good, if not always with unim- 
peachable wisdom, at least with incorruptible integrity— made 
no attempt at improper interference with Congress, nor sought 
to exercise undue influence over its deliberations. The press, 
usually the first bulwark of the public liberties to attract the 
exercise of depotism, so trammeled at the North, was free in 
the South every- where; in some instances, to the extent of 
licentiousness, and to the positive injury of the cause. 

In marked contrast with these exhibitions were the evi- 
dences of coming despotism at the North. The Federal ju- 
diciary was rapidly declining from its exalted purity, before 
the exactions of military power; the Federal Congress was 
charged by the press with open and notorious corruption, and 
was aiding Mr. Lincoln in usurpations which startled the des- 
potisms of Europe, and have since led to the annihilation of 
the republican character of the Government. 

Conspicuous, too, was the desire of Mr. Davis to conduct 
the war upon a civilized and Christian basis. His forbearance, 
his moderation, and stern refusal to resort to retaliation, under 
circumstances such as would have justified its exercise in re- 
sponse to the cruelties and outrages of the enemy, amazed the 
European spectator, and at times dissatisfied his own coun- 
trymen. " Retaliation is not justice," was his habitual reply 
to urgent demands, and again and again did he decline to 
" shed one drop of blood except on the field of battle." Never 
forgetting the dignity of the contest, he, up to the last mo- 
ment of his authority, redeemed the pledge which he had made 



ENGLISH OPINIONS OF DAVIS. 427 

in the first weeks of the war : " to smite the smiter with manly 
arms, as did our fathers before us." 

There have been few spectacles presented to the admirino* 
gaze of mankind, more worthily depicted than that union of 
capacities and virtues in Jefferson Davis, which so eminently 
qualified him, in the opinion of foreigners, for the position he 
held. An English writer has eloquently sketched him as " one 
of the world's foremost men, admired as a statesman, respected 
as an earnest Christian, the Washington of another generation 
of the same race. A resolute statesman, calm, dignified, sway- 
ing with commanding intellect the able men that surrounded 
him ; eloquent as a speaker, and as a writer giving state papers 
to the world which are among the finest compositions in our 
time; of warm domestic affections in his inner life, and strong 
religious convictions; held up by vigor of the spirit that 
nerved an exhausted and feeble frame — such was the chosen 
constitutional ruler of one-fourth of the American people." 

Colonel Freemantle, a distinguished English officer, whose 
faithful and impartial narrative of his extended observations 
of the American war, commended him to the esteem of both 
parties, thus concludes an account of an interview with Presi- 
dent Davis, in the spring of 1863: 

"During my travels many people have remarked to me that 
Jefferson Davis seems, in a peculiar manner, adapted to his office. 
His military education at West Point rendered him intimately 
acquainted with the higher officers of the army; and his post of 
Secretary of War, under the old Government, brought officers of 
all ranks under his immediate personal knowledge and supervision. 
No man could have formed a more accurate estimate of their 
respective merits. This is one of the reasons which gave the 
Confederates such an immense start in the way of generals ; for, 



428 LIFE OF JEFFERSON DAVIS. 

having formed his opinion with regard to appointing an officer, 
Mr. Davis is always most determined to carry out his intention 
in spite of every obstacle. His services in the Mexican war gave 
him the prestige of a brave man and a good soldier. His services 
as a statesman pointed him out as the only man who, by his un- 
flinching determination and administrative talent, was able to con- 
trol the popular will. People speak of any misfortune happening 
to him as an irreparable evil too dreadful to contemplate." 

Mr. Gladstone, a member of the British cabinet, the emi- 
nent 'leader of a party in English politics, and a sympathizer 
with the objects of the war as waged by the North, avowed his 
enthusiastic appreciation of the lustre reflected upon the new 
Government, by its able administration, in the assertion that 
"Mr. Jeiferson Davis had created a nation." 

But the admiration of Europe was to prove a mere senti- 
ment, unaccompanied by any practical demonstration of sym- 
pathy. In view of the course so persistently adhered to by 
the great powers of Europe, it is curious to note the purely 
sentimental and personal character of their professed sympathy 
for the South. The earliest expression of foreign opinion indi- 
cated a reluctant recognition of the valor and devotion of a 
people, from whom they had not expected the exhibition of 
such qualities. When, by the protraction of the struggle, the 
brilliant feats of arms executed by the Southern armies, the 
indomitable resolution of the South, and its evident purpose 
to encounter every possible sacrifice for sake of independence, 
there was no longer ground for misapprehension, they still 
disregarded all the precedents and principles which had gov- 
erend their course respecting new nationalities. 

Applauding the valor of the Southern soldiery, the heroism, 
endurance, and self-denial of a j^eople whom they repeatedly 



THE LONDON " TIMES " ON RECOGNITION. 429 

declared to have already established their invincibility ; rapt- 
urous in their panegyrics upon the genius, zeal, and Christian 
virtues of the Confederate leaders ; they never interposed their 
boasted potentiality in behalf of justice, right, and humanity. 
English writers were eloquent in acknowledgment of the addi- 
tional distinction conferred upon Anglo-Saxon statesmanship 
and literature by Davis; diligent in tracing the honorable 
English lineage of Lee, and establishing the consanguinity of 
Jackson; but English statesmen persistently disregarded those 
elevated considerations of humanity and philanthropy, which 
they have so much vaunted as prompting their intercourse with 
nations. Confessing a new enlightenment from the expositions 
of Mr. Davis, and from diligent inquiry into the nature of the 
Federal Government, Europe soon avowed its convictions in 
favor of the legal and constitutional right of secession asserted 
by the South. It declared that it but awaited the exhibition 
of that earnestness of purpose, and that capacity for resistance, 
which should establish the " force and consistency " which are 
the requisite conditions of recognized nationality. 

The London Times, while the army of McClellan was still 
investing Richmond, used language which the North and the 
South accepted as significant and prophetic. Said the Times: 

" It can not be doubted that we are approaching a time when a 
more important question even than that of an oflFer of mediation 
may have to be considered by England and France. The Southern 
Confederacy has constituted itself a nation for nearly a year and a 
half During that time the attachment of the people to the new 
Government has been indubitably shown ; immense armies have 
been raised ; the greatest sacrifices have been endured ; the persist- 
ence of the South in the war, through a long series of battles — 
some victories, some defeats — has shown the ' force and consist- 



430 LIFE OF JEFFERSON DAVIS. 

ency ' which are looked upon as tests of nationality. Wherever 
the Government is unmolested, the laws are administered regularly 
as in time of peace ; and wherever the Federals have penetrated, 
they are received with an animosity which they resent, as at New 
Orleans, by a military rule of intolerable brutality. The vision of 
a Union party in the South has been dispelled, as the Northerners 
themselves are compelled, with bitterness and mortification, to 
admit. 

" All these circumstances point but to one conclusion : Either 
this war must be brought to an end, or the time will at last come 
when the South may claim its own recognition by foreign nations 
as an independent power. The precedents of the American colo- 
nies, of the Spanish colonies, of Belgium, and of Tuscany, and of 
Naples the other day, forbid us to question this right when asserted 
by the Confederate States. It is our duty to anticipate this pos- 
sible event, and it may be wise, as well as generous, for statesmen 
on this side of the ocean to approach the American Government 
in a friendly spirit, with the offer of their good oflSces, at this 
great crisis of its fortunes." 

If such a statement of the question was just and truthful, 
when a numerous and confident army, under a leader of proven 
skill, was engaged in close siege of the capital of the Confed- 
eracy, how much more unanswerable were its conclusions when 
McClellan was defeated ? What were the evidences of " force 
and consistency" demanded after the combined armies of 
McClellan and Pope were hurled back upon the Potomac; 
after Bragg had forced Buell to the Ohio; and when Freder- 
icksburg had crowned six months of success with a victory 
tliat inevitably imposed a defensive attitude upon the North 
during the entire winter? 

When Chancellorsville inflicted a defeat, the most decisive 



DIGNIFIED ATTITUDE OF MR. DAVIS. 431 

and humiliating of the war, upon the North, there was indeed 
no longer even a pretext, by whicn could be disguised the 
evident purpose of England not to interfere in behalf of a 
cause with which she had no sympathy, whatever her con- 
strained respect for its champions and defenders. The loss 
of Vicksburg and Gettysburg in the ensuing summer, so pro- 
ductive of distrust in Europe of the Confederate cause, was 
quickly followed by developments which dispelled nearly all 
remaining hope of that recognition which it was equally the 
right of the Confederacy to hope, and the duty of Europe to 
render. 

The attitude of the Confederate Government, in its relations 
with European governments, was ever one of imposing dignity. 
President Davis contented himself with calm and statesman- 
like presentation of the claims of the cause which he repre- 
sented. His unanswerable exposition of the jDOsition of the 
Confederacy, and lucid discussions of international jurispru- 
dence, never took the semblance of supplication, and were 
accompanied by dignified remonstrance, even, only when it 
became evident that the Confederacy was excluded from the 
benefits of that policy which the laws of nations and every 
precedent demanded. Hope of foreign assistance unquestion- 
ably constituted a large share of that confidence of success 
which, until the later stages of the war, continued to animate 
the South. Her people hoped for foreign aid in some shape, 
because they were confident of their ability to demonstrate 
their right to it; and they expected it only when they had de- 
monstrated that right. But never was there any abatement 
or relaxation of effort by the Confederate Government because 
of this just right and expectation. In the midst of the most 
cheering events, and when recognition appeared certain, Pres- 



432 LIFE OF JEFFERSON DAVIS. 

ident Davis declared his conviction of the necessity of such 
effort as should secure independence without aid from any 
quarter. In his address to the Mississippi Legislature, De- 
cember, 1862, from which we have already quoted, he said: 

"In the course of this war our eyes have been often turned 
abroad. We have expected sometimes recognition and sometimes 
intervention at the hands of foreign nations, and we had a right 
to expect it. Never before, in the history of the workl, had a 
people so long a time maintained their ground, and showed them- 
selves capable of maintaining their national existence, without 
securing the recognition of commercial nations. I know not why 
this has been so, but this I say, ' Put not your trust in princes,' 
and rest not your hopes on foreign nations. This war is ours ; 
we must fight it out ourselves; and I feel some pride in knowing 
that, so far, we have done it without the good-will of any body." 

It seems, indeed, difficult to explain the cour.se of Europe, 
especially of England and France, in the American war, upon 
any hypothesis consistent with either courage, humanity, or 
the usages of nations. Delay, caution, and attendance upon 
results were becoming in the beginning; but, after the defeat 
of McClellan upon the Chickahominy, and, still more, at the 
close of operations in 1862, they were no longer exacted by 
moral obligation or international comity. Having all the 
attributes of an independent power — a power at war with a 
neighbor, assailed by its armies, blockaded by its fleets, as had 
been numerous other independent powers — there was nothing 
whatever anomalous in the situation of the Confederate States 
forbidding the practice of plain justice towards them. Recog- 
nition was not only warranted by the facts of the case, but by 
immemorial usage in Europe, especially by the apposite prece- 
dent of the separation of Belgium from Holland. The exist- 



INJUSTICE OF ENGLAND. 433 

ence of slavery in the South, even though sanctioned by law 
and the religious convictions of her people, is an altogether 
insufficient explanation of a policy which has exposed the 
European great powers to the suspicion of having been actu- 
ated by the most unworthy motives. 

Especially does the course of England seem indefensible 
towards a people, with whom the war developed so much of 
common instinct, so many appeals of sympathy and evidences 
of identity with herself — a people whose ancestors were the 
uncompromising enemies of regicides, and had maintained 
their loyalty to the crown of England in spite of the power 
and threats of Cromwell, whose Puritan dominion New Eng- 
land acknowledged. 

The injustice of England did not end with her refusal of 
recognition. In the beginning she promptly proclaimed " strict 
neutrality," and her Premier declared the Confederates ''bel- 
ligerents." This phrase, apparently a just concession of the 
declared independence of the South, was gratefully acknowl- 
edged by a struggling people, and evoked the fierce indigna- 
tion of the North. It was, however, designedly ambiguous, 
and to be interpreted, philologically and practically, as the 
prospects of the controversy or the wishes of the Palmerston 
cabinet might dictate. The English cabinet did not neces- 
sarily mean a recognition of a divided sovereignty, justifying 
suspension of relations with both sections, until the question 
of sovereignty should be settled. The phrase "belligerents" 
was subsequently declared to mean, merely, that the " two 
sections were at war" — a fact which the participants felt to 
have already had ocular demonstration. ^Meanwhile, relations 
between London and Washington were not interrupted, and 
commercial intercourse continued as before. But England not 
28 



434 LIFE OF JEFFERSON DAVIS. 

only ignored the South, and denied the Confederate commis- 
sioners a formal and official audience — her vessels respected 
the Federal blockade, while Confederate vessels were warned 
from her coasts. Such is only a limited statement of features 
which made " English neutrality " the broadest farce and se- 
verest irony of the age.* 

Early in 1863, or late in 1862, the Emperor Napoleon pro- 
posed to England to join France and other powers in a joint 
mediation, to sugscest an armistice and a conference. This hu- 
mane proposition England refused, declining to take any step 
which might aid pacification, and thus did both North and 
South finally comprehend what was meant by the "duty and 
policy " of that power, which had so industriously propagated 
American dissensions for her own aggrandizement. An edi- 
torial in the Richmond Enquirer, written, probably, by John 
Mitchel, pithily described the motives of England in the re- 
mark : " In short, the North is not yet bankrupt enough, the 
South not yet desolated enough, to suit the ' policy ' of Eng- 
land." France saved her reputation, upon the score of humanity 
and justice, by evincing at least a right disposition, though it is 
difficult to reconcile her continued dalliance upon England, re- 
specting the American question, with that bold policy, which 
usually characterizes the great master of European diplomacy. 
France had, however, less of interest and of expectation than 
England, from the dissolution of the Union ; less motive for 
desiring its downfall, aud the exhaustion of both combatants. 

*A sufficient proof of the injury done the South by the pretended neu- 
trality of Enghmd was the confession of the British Foreign Secretary. 
^;;iid he : " Tiie impartial observance of neutral obligation by Her Maj- 
esty's Government has thus been exceedingly advantageous to the cause 
of the more powerful of the two contending parties." 



ANTISLAVERY LEGISLATION. 435 

Such, however, was the policy, adhered to by England and 
France, in defiance of legal and moral obligation, and to the 
mortal injury of the South, in her brave and defiant struggle 
with that power, wiiich history may yet declare, the " great 
powers" of Europe dared not defy. 

An interesting phase of the war, in the beginning of 1863, 
was the culmination of the policy of the Federal Government 
respecting the subject of slavery. A brief space will suffice to 
exhibit a record of violated pledges, of constitutional infrac- 
tions, and abuse of power by the Federal Government, alto- 
gether unexampled in a war to be hereafter noted for its arbi- 
trary measures. 

In the early stages of the war the North assumed, as the 
justification of coercive measures, not only the purpose of pre- 
serving the Union, but the relief of a " loyal party " in the 
South, who were oppressed by a violent minority having 
"command of the situation." Of this theory of the war, as 
waged by the North, the conversation of President Lincoln 
with a Kentucky member of Congress, in the presence of Sen- 
ator Crittenden, was sufficiently declaratory: 

"'Mr. Mallory, this war, so far as I have any thing to do with 
it, is carried ou on the idea that there is a Union sentiment in 
those States, which, set free from the control now held over it by 
the presence of the Confederate or rebel power, will be sufficient 
to replace those States in the Union. If I am mistaken in this, 
if there is no such sentiment there, if the people of those States 
are dctcrmiued with unanimity, or with a feeling approaching 
unanimity, that their States shall not be members of this Confed- 
eracy, it is beyond the power of the people of the other States to 
force them to remain in the Union ; and,' said he, ' in that con- 
tingency — in the contingency that there is not that sentiment 



436 LIFE OF JEFFERSON PA VIS. 

there— THIS WAR IS NOT ONLY AN ERROR, IT IS A 
CRIME.' " 

Mr. Lincoln was probably not a very close student of the 
philosophy of history, or he would hardly have thus emphat- 
ically committed himself to a pledge, which, if observed, would 
have inevitably ended the war in a few weeks. The teachings 
of history were valueless, without their unvarying testimony to 
the potency of the sword of the common enemy in healing the 
divisions of an invaded country. It would be difficult, too, 
to imagine what he would have deemed that approximation 
to unity in the South, which would render a further prosecu- 
tion of the w&r a crime. A faction of " Union men," trucu- 
lent, treacherous, and insidious, in their hostility to the Con- 
federate Government, unquestionably existed in the South 
during the entire progress of the war, but they were few in 
numbers, and their recognized leaders were, with hardly a sin- 
gle exception, men of abandoned character, notoriously without 
influence, save with their ignorant and unpatriotic followers. 
But this pretense of a Union party in the South, which the 
North, at first, declared a majority, was conveniently abandoned, 
when other pretexts were sought. In the face of evidence not 
to be denied, of the profound and sincere purpose of separa- 
tion, entertained by more than seven-eighths of the citizens of 
the seceded States, the Northern conscience easily overcame 
its scruples as to a war which the Northern President had, by 
anticipation, pronounced a " Crime." 

Palpable violations of vows were, indeed, marked character- 
istics of the conduct of the war as justified by the facile and 
pliant conscience of the North. The paramount purpose of 
coercion was to maintain tlic authority and dignity of the Con- 
stitution, assailed by " rebels in arms." No theory was avowed 



VIOLATIONS OF VOWS. 437 

contemplatiug any other termination of the war, than a sim- 
ple restoration of the " Union under the Constitution," The 
assertions of the Northern press, and the resolutions of mass 
meetings were re-affirmed by the most solemn enactments of 
the Federal Congress, and public declarations of Mr. Lincoln, 
that the North sought merely to save the Union, with the 
form and spirit of the Constitution unimpaired. In view of 
subsequent events, it is almost incredible that in Mr. Lincoln's 
first inaugural address should be found this passage : 

" I declare that I have no purpose, directly or indirectly, to in- 
terfere with the institution of slavery in the States where it exists. 
I believe I have no lawful right to do so, and I have no inclina- 
tion to do so The right of each State to order and 

control its own domestic institutions according to its own judi^- 
ment exclusively, is essential to the balance of power on which 
the perfection and endurance of our political fabric depended." 

Then, after the defeat at Bull Run, Congress passed the 
following resolution, which was signed by Mr. Lincoln as 
President : 

" Resolved, That this war is not waged upon our part with any 
purpose of overthrowing or interfering with the rights or estab- 
lished institutions of these States, but to defend and maintain the 
supremacy of the Constitution, and to preserve the Union, with all 
the dignity, equality, and rights of the several States unimpaired ; 
that, as soon as these objects are accomplished, the war ought to 
cease." 

As if to give every possible form of assurance of the legiti- 
mate and constitutional objects of the war, and leaving no 
room for doubt in the mind of posterity, of complete and un- 



438 LIFE OF JEFFERSON DAVIS. 

redeemed perfidy, the Federal authorities were at especial 
pains to declare their policy to foreign governments. 

Mr. Seward, as Mr. Lincoln's Secretary of State, in his in- 
structions to ]Mr. Dayton, Minister to France, says : 

" The condition of slavery in the several States will remain just 
the same, whether it (the rebellion) succeed or fail. There is not 
even a pretext for the complaint that the disaffected States are 
to be conquered by the United States, if the revolution fail ; for 
the rights of the States, and the condition of every human being 
in them, will remain subject to exactly the same laws and form 
of administration, whether the revolution shall succeed or whether 
it shall fail." 

There was little room to doubt the purpose of the North to 
emancipate the slaves of the South, if at any period of the war 
such action could be advantageously taken. Mr. Lincoln al- 
ways manifested great timidity and reluctance in approaching 
the subject, and it was observable that, at critical moments of 
the w^ar, he courted the sympathy of the Democratic party, 
which was opposed to the policy of emancipation, so impor- 
tunately urged upon him by the radical wing of the Republi- 
can party. 

General McClellan had, with noble firmness, refused to 
countenance the revolutionary designs of the radical faction, 
and his removal from command after his repulse at Richmond 
was the palpable and decisive triumph of the emancipation 
policy in the sympathies of Mr. Lincoln. Restored to com- 
mand, in order that he might save Washington from capture, 
no other officer being deemed to have the requisite ability and 
confidence of the array, he retained his position but a few 
weeks after that object was accomplished. By successive steps, 



THE EJHANCIPATION PROCLAMATIOX. 439 

]\Ir. Lincoln was finally brouglit to issue a preliminary procla- 
mation of emancipation, in September, 1862, which went into 
effect January 1, 18G3. After the battle of Antietam, no 
farther necessity for concealment was deemed necessary, and 
to the design of subjugation was now added the proclaimed 
purpose to destroy the organic existence of the States and two 
thousand millions of Southern capital. 

Emancipation was justified by the Federal administration 
as a " military necessity " — a wretched explanation from those 
who had boasted their ability to "exterminate the South" in 
a few months. Since the war, a claim of philanthropy, as the 
motive of emancipation, has been falsely asserted. Reckless 
of the fate of the slave, the North sought only vengeance 
against his master. In the sequel, each step of despotism be- 
coming easier than its predecessor, malice against the master 
has been still the motive which instigated the enfranchisement 
of his former slave. 

The New -Year's proclamation of Mr. Lincoln, reaching the 
Confederacy at the most auspicious period of its fortunes, was 
received with evidences of just indignation, and of a more 
stern purpose in the conduct of the war. President Davis 
thus referred to the subject in his message to Congress : 

" The public journals of the North have been received, contain- 
ing a proclamation, dated on the first day of the present month, 
signed by the President of the United States, in which he orders 
and declares all slaves within ten of the States of the Confederacy 
to be free, except such as are found within certain districts now 
occupied in part by the armed forces of the enemy. We may well 
leave it to the instincts of that common humanity which a benefi- 
cent Creator has implanted in the breasts of our fellow-men of all 
countries to pass judgment on a measure by which several millions 



440 LIFE OF JEFFERSON DAVIS. 

of human beings of an inferior race — peaceful and contented la- 
borers in their sphere — are doomed to extermination, while, at the 
same time, they are encouraged to a general assassination of their 
masters by the insidious recommendation ' to abstain from violence 
unless in necessary self-defense.' Our own detestation of those 
who have attempted the most execrable measure recorded in the 
history of guilty man, is tempered by profound contempt for the 
impotent rage which it discloses. So far as regards the action of 
this Government on such criminals as may attempt its execution, 
I confine myself to informing you that I shall — unless in your 
wisdom you deem some other course moi'e expedient — deliver to 
the several State authorities all commissioned officers of the United 
States that may hereafter be captured by our forces, in any of the 
States embraced in the proclamation, that they may be dealt with 
in accordance with the laws of those States providing for the pun- 
ishment of criminals engaged in exciting servile insurrection. 
The enlisted soldiers I shall continue to treat as unwilling instru- 
ments in the commission of these crimes, and shall direct their 
discharge and return to their homes on the proper and usual pa- 
role." 

Mr. Davis urged upon the people the evidence, given by 
this measure, of the utterly ruthless and unscrupulous character 
of the war waged upon the South, and counseled the resolution 
of " absolute and total separation of these States from tha 
United States." The eloquent appeals of Mr. Davis were 
sustained by the united press of the Confederacy, and by un- 
mistakable indications of a tliorouglily aroused popular indig- 
nation. 

The results of military operations, in the winter months of 
1863, were of a character altogether favorable and re-assuring 
to the Confederates. Movements on a large scale were pre- 
vented by the heavy rains and extreme rigor of the season, 



ATTEMPTS UPON VICKSBURG. 441 

though there were many ineideuts evincing activity and enter- 
prise on both sides. Early in January occurred the recapture 
of Galveston, Texas, by General Magruder. This exploit, 
marked by a display of energy, daring, and skill, was a hand- 
some vindication of a most meritorious officer, who, for some 
months previous, had suffered unmerited censure. General 
ISIagruder had commanded a portion of the Army of Northern 
Virginia, in the assault upon McClellan, at Malvern Hill. 
The partial failure of the attack secured the Federal retreat, 
and the public, impatient at the check sustained at a moment 
of so much promise, visited an unwarranted censure upon 
Magruder. President Davis acknowledged, in a most flutter- 
ing letter to his former classmate, the brilliant achievement 
of his command at Galveston. 

After the battle of Murfreesboro', the more important oper- 
ations, in the West, were enacted in the State of Mississippi. 
The successful defense of Vicksburg, in the summer of 1862, 
effectually closed the Mississippi to the Federal fleets. To 
reduce this stronghold became an object of prime importance 
to the Federal Government, the North-western States being 
especially interested in securing the unobstructed navigation 
of the great river. The Confederate Government, equally ap- 
prized of the value of Vicksburg, concentrated forces for its 
defense, and made the maintenance of that position one of the 
leading features of its designs in the West. 

A second attempt, under the auspices of General Sherman, 
was made against Vicksburg, in December, 1862. The signal 
failure attending this expedition brought upon Sherman a de- 
gree of reproach, at the North, in singular contrast with the 
applause which he received twelve months later. A few weeks 
later, the third attempt against Vicksburg was undertaken by 



442 LIFE OF JEFFERSON DAVIS. 

General Grant, who sought to turn the Confederate defenses, 
tlirouo'h the smaller rivers connecting the Yazoo and Missis- 
sippi. This attempt was doomed to a failure no less decided 
and humiliating than that of its predecessor. On the 14th of 
March the Confederate batteries at Port Hudson, the lower 
defense of the Mississippi, repulsed the fleet of Farragut, who 
sought, by passing the batteries, to cooporate with Porter's 
fleet above. 

These repeated failures of the Federal demonstrations 
against the Confederate strongholds on the Mississippi, were 
accepted as auspicious indications of continued successful de- 
fense in a vital quarter of the Confederacy. The loss of Ar- 
kansas Post, with a garrison of three thousand men, somewhat 
diminished the ardor of the congratulations experienced by the 
South from the successes on the Mississippi, and General Beau- 
reo-ard's signal defeat of the Federal fleet at Charleston. 

At the opening of spring, there was wanting no indication 
of the gigantic struggle which was to make memorable the 
third year of the war. By common consent it was declared that 
this, if not the last, would, at least, be the decisive year of 
the struggle. An imperative necessity impelled the Federal 
administration to the most powerful efforts. Without bril- 
liant and decided military results, the party in opposition to 
the war would inevitably gain possession of a sufficient num- 
ber of States, to enable them to enter tlie next Presidential 
contest with fair prospects of success. The approaching ex- 
piration of the terras of service of large numbers of his vet- 
eran troops, also impelled the enemy to early activity. 

On the part of the Confederates, there was apparently 
nothing left undone which could increase the chances of suc- 
cess. This period is remarkable in the history of the war, 



ACTIVITY OF THE CONFEDERATKR. 443 

not less for Its auspicious signs for the Confederacy, than for 
the union and cooperation every-whcre observable. It was 
equally a period encouraging hope and inviting effort to wrino- 
from the reluctant North confession of final defeat, and to 
inflict a just punishment upon an enemy, who had but lately 
proclaimed his purpose to use even the slaves of the South for 
the subjugation of her citizens. Extraordinary activity was 
displayed, during the winter and spring, in strengthening the 
army and adding to its efficiency, by the execution of the re- 
cent legislation of Congress recommended by President Davis. 
The utmost exertions of the Government were, of course, in- 
sufficient to strengthen the armies to the point of equality 
with the enormous array presented by the enemy on every 
theatre of operations. Yet the Governmeiit, the people, and 
the army, with calmness and confidence, awaited the issue, in 
the conviction that every preparation had been made which 
the resources of the country admitted. 

Early in April, President Davis, in compliance with a request 
of Congress, addressed an eloquent invocation to the coun- 
try, in behalf of the duties of jiatriotism at so critical a moment 
of the struggle. Stating his concurrence in the views of Con- 
gress, he declared his confidence in the patriotic disposition of 
the people to carry into effisct the measures devised for the 
deliverance of the country. 

"Alone, unaided," said he, " we have met and overthrown 
the most formidable combinations of naval and military arma- 
ments that the lust of conquest ever gathered together for the 
conquest of a free people. We began this struggle without a 
single gun afloat, while the resources of our enemy enabled 
them to gather fleets which, according to their official list, 
published in August last, consisted of four hundred and thirty- 



444 LIFE OF JEFFERSON DAVIS. 

seven vessels, measuring eiglit hundred and forty thousand 
and eighty-six tons, and carrying three thousand and twenty- 
six guns To oppose invading forces composed 

of levies which have already exceeded thirteen hundred thou- 
sand men, we had no resources but the unconquerable valor 
of a people determined to be free." 

Mr. Davis alluded encouragingly to the immediate prospects 
of the war : 

" Your devotion and patriotism have triumphed over all these 
obstacles, and calling into existence the munitions of war, the 
clothing and the subsistence, which have enabled our soldiers to 
illustrate their valor on numerous battle-fields, and to inflict crush- 
ing defeats on successive armies, each of which our arrogant foe 
fondly imagined to be invincible. 

" The contrast between our past and present condition is well 
calculated to inspire full confidence in the triumph of our arms. 
At no previous period of the war have our forces been so numer- 
ous, so well organized, and so thoroughly disciplined, armed, and 
equipped, as at present. The season of high water, on which our 
enemies relied to enable their fleet of gunboats to penetrate into 
our country and devastate our homes, is fast passing away ; yet 
our strongholds on the Mississippi still bid defiance to the foe, and 
months of costly preparation for their reduction have been spent 
in vain. Disaster has been the result of their every eff'ort to turn 
or storm Vicksburg and Port Hudson, as well as every attack on 
our batteries on the Red River, the Tallahatchie, and other navi- 
gable streams." 

In this address President Davis did not fail to rebuke that 
tendency to excessive confidence from which relaxed exertion is 
ever apt to follow. Albeit he has been so freely charged 
with entertaining excessive confidence liimself, and encouraging 



THE QUESTION OF FOOD. 445 

others to share his over-sanguine and exaggerated hopes, he 
yet never hxst an ojiportunity of rebuking it as a dangerous 
error. 

The most important feature of the address is the earnest 
and admonitory appeal, for immediate exertion, to obviate 
the difficulty of obtaining supplies for the army, already 
becoming a question of alarming concern. Mr. Davis even 
then avowed his conviction that, in such a contest as the war 
had then become, the question of food was the " one danger 
which the Government of your choice regards with apprehen- 
sion." Earnestly appealing to the " never- failing patriotism " 
of the land, he said : " Your country, therefore, appeals to you 
to lay aside all thought of gain, and to devote yourselves to 
securing your liberties, wdthout which these gains would be 
valueless." 

Reminding the country of embarrassments, already encoun- 
tered, he indicated the only method of avoiding similar diffi- 
culties in future : 

" Let your fields be devoted exclusively to the production of 
corn, oats, beans, peas, potatoes, and other food for man and beast. 
Let corn be sowed broadcast, for fodder, in immediate proximity 
to railroads, rivers and canals ; and let all your efforts be directed 
to the prompt supply of these articles in the districts where our 
armies are operating. You will then add greatly to their efficiency, 
and furnish the means without which it is impossible to make 
those prompt and active movements which have hitherto stricken 
terror into our enemies and secured our most brilliant triumphs." 

Those who witnessed the operation of causes which event- 
ually brought the country to the verge of starvation, and made 
Lee's army — whose proud array of "tattered uniforms and 



446 LIFE OF JEFFERSON DAVIS. 

bright muskets" had never yet yielded to the onset of the 
enemy — the victim of famine, can attest the fidelity of this 
grapliic and prophetic sketch : 

" It is kuowa that the supply of meat throughout the country 
is sufficient for the support of ail ; but the distances are so great, 
the condition of the roads has been so bad during the five mouths 
of winter weather, through which we have just passed, and the 
attempt of groveliug speculators to forestall the market, and make 
money out of the life-blood of our defenders, have so much in- 
fluenced the withdrawal from sale of the surplus in hands of the 
producers, that the Government has been unable to gather full 
fcupplies, 

" The Secretary of War has prepared a plan, which is appended 
to this address, by the aid of which, or some similar means to be 
adopted by yourselves, you can assist the officers of the Govern- 
ment in the purchase of the corn, the bacon, the pork, and the 
beef known to exist in large quantities in different parts of the 
country. Even if the surplus be less than believed, is it not a 
bitter and iiumiliating reflection that those who remain at home, 
secure from hardship, and protected from danger, should be in the 
enjoyment of abundance, and that their slaves also should have a 
full supply of food, while their sons, brothers, husbands, and fathers 
are stinted in the rations upon which their health and efficiency 
depend?" 

The concluding paragraph of this address, so remarkable for 
its eloquence, and for its frank and powerful statement of the 
condition and necessities of the Confederacy, in one of the 
most thrilling moments of its fate, is as follows ; 

" Entertaining no fear that you will either misconstrue the mo- 
tives of this address, or fail to ret^poud to the call of patriotism, I 



CHANCELLORSVILLE. 447 

have placed the facts fully and frankly before you. Let us all 
unite in the performance of our duty, each in his sphere; and with 
concerted, persistent, and well directed effort, there seems little 
reason to doubt that, under the blessings of Him to whom we 
look for guidance, and who has been to us our shield and strensth. 
we shall maintain the sovereignty and independence of the Confed- 
erate States, and transmit to our posterity the heritage bequeathed 
to us by our fathers." 

Late in March, General Lee intimated his convictions, to 
the Government, of an early resumption of active movements 
by the enemy. The disparity between the main armies in 
Virginia was even greater than in previous campaigns. Gen- 
eral Hooker, the Federal commander, had, under his immediate 
direction, more than one hundred thousand men, while General 
Lee — in consequence of the necessary withdrawal of Longstrcet, 
with two divisions, to meet a threatened movement by the 
enemy from the south of James River, and to secure the sup- 
plies of an abundant section, open to Federal incursions — had 
less than fitly thousand.* But Lee manifested his character- 
istic confidence and self-possession in the presence of the per- 
ilous crisis. Having adequately represented the situation to 

* General Lee stated the proportion of the Federal strength to his own 
as ten to three. Mr. Swinton states Hooker's force at one hundred and 
twenty thousand inftintry, twelve thousand cavalry, and four hundred 
guns. Lee's effective force was considerably less than fifty thousand. 

The absence of Longstreet was severely felt by General Lee in his 
operations against Hooker. The presence of a force was absolutely in- 
dispensable upon the south side of James River, in the early spring, to 
meet the formidable Federal force in the neitrhborhood of Suffolk. An 
impression, altogether erroneous, however, prevailed, that Longstreet's de- 
tention from Lee was caused by President Davis. The President event- 
U.1II3' ordered Longstreet to Lee, after his delay at Richmond. 



448 LIFE OF JEFFKRSON DAVIS. 

his Government, he was aware of the cordial cooperation, to 
the extent of its ability, which had been extended. During 
the suspension of active hostilities, his every wish for the in- 
creased efficiency of his command was promptly fulfilled, and 
at the opening of the campaign he lacked no element of read- 
iness, save numbers, that which the country could not supply, 
and of the absence of which, Lee, therefore, never complained. 
In every other element of efficiency, the army of Northern 
Virginia was never in better condition, than when it eagerly 
awaited the advance of Hooker across the Rappahannock. 

The battle of Chancellorsville is memorable as the most 
decisive triumph of the Army of Northern Virginia, and 
from the mournful incident of the extinction of that noble life 
which was identified with its highest glory. The culmination 
of Lee's superb strategy, the most splendid illustration of his 
master-genius, was sadly emphasized by the irreparable loss 
of Stonewall Jackson. 

Commemorating, by a letter of special thanks to the army, 
a victory which baffled the most perilous and boastful attempt 
yet made upon the Confederate capital, President Davis shared 
the grief of a stricken country for the loss of one of its most 
illustrious champions. In that procession of mourners which 
followed, through the streets of Richmond, the bier of the 
fallen hero, there was not one who felt anguish more acute 
than that of the chief who had so honored and sustained 
Jackson when living.* 

* " Of Stonewall Jackson, Mr. Davis spoke with the utmost tenderness, 
and some touch of reverential feeling, bearing witness to his earnest and 
pathetic piety, his singleness of aim, his immense energy as an executive 
officer, and the loyalty of his nature, making obedience the first of all 
duties He had the faculty, or, rather, gift of exciting and 



DA vis' tribute TO JACKSOX. 449 

holding the love and confidence of his men to an unbounded degree, even 
though the character of his campaigning imposed on them more hard- 
ships than on any other troops in tlie service. Good soldiers care not for 
their individual sacrifices, when adequate results can be shown, and these 

General Jackson never lacked 'For glory he lived long 

enough,' continued Mr. Davis, with much emotion; 'and if this result had 
to come, it was the Divine mercy tliat removed him. He fell like the eagle, 
his own feather on the shaft that was dripping with his life-blood. In his 
death, the Confederacy lost an eye and arm; our only consolation being 
that the final summons could have reached no soldier more prepared to 
accept it joyfully.'" — Cravens Prison Life of Jefferson Davis, pp. 180, 181. 



29 



450 LIFE OF JEFFEESON DAVIS. 



CHAPTEE XV. 

CONFEDERATE PROSPECTS AFTER THE BATTLE OF CHANCELLCRSVILLE — THE MIL- 
ITARY SITUATION PRIMARY OBJECTS OF THE CONFEDERATES AFFAIRS IN 

THE WEST — A BRIEF CONSIDERATJON OF SEVERAL PLANS OF CAMPAIGN SUG- 
GESTED TO THE CONFEDERATE AUTHORITIES — VISIONARY STRATEGY — AN OF- 
FENSIVE CAMPAIGN ADOPTED THE INVASION OP PENNSYLVANIA JUSTIFIED 

CONDITION OF THE ARMY OF NORTHERN VIRGINIA AT THIS PERIOD THE 

MOVEMENT FROM THE RAPPAHANNOCK — LEADING FEATURES OF THE CONFED- 
ERATE PLAN lee's STRATEGY AGAIN ILLUSTRATED GETTYSBURG A FATAL 

BLOW TO THE SOUTH LEE RETURNS TO VIRGINIA THE SURRENDER OF VICKS- 

BURG — OTHER REVERSES — EXULTATION OF THE NORTH — THE CONFEDERATE 
ADMINISTRATION AGAIN ARRAIGNED BY ITS OPPONENTS — THE CASE OF GEN- 
ERAL PEMBERTON — POPULAR INJUSTICE TO A GALLANT OFFICER — A BRIEF 
REVIEW OF THE SUBJECT — PEMBERTON's APPOINTMENT RECOMMENDED BY 

DISTINGUISHED OFFICERS HIS ABLE ADMINISTRATION IN MISSISSIPPI HIS 

RESOLUTION TO HOLD VICKSBURG, AS THE GREAT END OF THE CAMPAIGN 

HIS GALLANTRY AND RESOURCES — NOBLE CONDUCT OP THIS PERSECUTED OF- 
FICER A FURTHER STATEMENT THE MISSION OF VICE-PRESIDENT STEPHENS 

ITS OBJECTS PRESIDENT DAVIS SEEKS TO ALLEVIATE THE SUFFERINGS OP 

WAR MAGNANIMITY AND HUMANITY OF THE OFFER PROUD POSITION IN 

THIS MATTER OF THE SOUTH AND HER RULER THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT 

DECLINES INTERCOURSE WITH MR. STEPHENS EXPLANATION OF ITS MOTIVES 

CORRESPONDENCE BETWEEN MESSRS. DAVIS AND STEPHENS. 

THE situation of affairs, so eminently favorable to the Con- 
federacy, after the victory of Chancellorsville, admitted no 
doubt that the opportune occasion would be promptly seized, 
for the delivery of a telling blow, which should hasten an ac- 
knowledgment of Southern independence. A brief summary 
of the military situation^ at the opening of summer, 1863, will 



A FAVORABLE SITUATION. 451 

show the simple and judicious policy, by which the Confed- 
erate administration proposed to make efficient use of its ad- 
vantages. 

The battle of Chancellorsville, followed by the disorganized 
retreat of the largest force yet consolidated for the capture of. 
Richmond, and the signal failure of an attempt, which, at its 
outset, the North declared to be conclusive of the fate of the 
Confederacy, secured the safety of the Confederate capital, at 
least, until another campaign could be organized. Moreover, 
it tendered to the Confederate authorities the choice of 'a vis:- 
orous offensive, holding out tempting inducements; or a de- 
tachment of a portion of Lee's army for the relief of other 
sections of the Confederacy. With two-thirds of his own 
force, Lee had repulsed and crippled the enormous army of 
Hooker, and it appeared reasonably certain, that the same 
force could maintain a successful defensive, while the segment, 
or its equivalent, wdiich was absent at Chancellorsville, might 
be sent, for a temporary purpose, to Bragg, in Tennessee, or 
to the relief of Pemberton in Vicksburg. 

At the opening of spring the primary lobjects of the Con- 
federacy were the safety of Richmond, the safety of Vicks- 
burg — the key to its tenure of the Mississippi Valley — and 
the holding of its defensive line in Middle and East Tennes- 
see, the barrier between the enemy and the vitals of the Con- 
federacy. The first of these objects was amply secured by the 
victory of Chancellorsville, leaving to the main Confederate 
army, its own choice of the field of future operations. 

In the Western Department, commanded since ^December, 
1862, by General Joseph E. Johnston, the situation was less 
promising, though by no means forbidding hope of a favora- 
ble solution. General Bragg maintained a somewhat precari- 



452 LIFE OF JEFFERSON DAVIS. 

ous defensive against Rosecrans, who confronted the- Confed- 
erate commander, with an army much larger than that with 
which he had fought the battle of Murfreesboro'. General 
Pemberton, after a series of actions, had retired within the 
, lines of Vicksburg, where he was closely besieged by General 
Grant with a numerous army — the Federal fleet in the river, 
meanAvhile, continuing its bombardment. The characteristic 
stubbornness of Grant, aided by his ample force, made evident 
the ultimate fate of Vicksburg and Pemberton's army, either 
by fafhine, or the assaults of the enemy, unless succor should 
come in the shape of a demonstration against the besieging 
army, with which the garrison might be expected to cooperate. 
Not long after Pemberton's retirement into Vicksburg, Gen- 
eral Johnston reached Mississippi and began the collection of 
a force, by which it was expected that the besieged stronghold 
and its garrison would be relieved. 

But while the situation in the West thus seemed to Invite 
the presence of a portion of the army of Northern Virginia, 
relieved of any immediate danger from its antagonist, there 
were cogent considerations in behalf of another policy which 
was adopted. Two weeks, at least, would have been required, 
in the indifferent condition of the Southern railroads, for the 
transportation of a force from Virginia, competent to enable 
Bragg to assume the aggressive. A much longer period would 
have been required to transfer to Jackson, such a force as 
General Johnston would have deemed sufficient to justify an 
attack upon Grant. Besides, the government was fully satis- 
fied, that the reenforcements sent to Johnston would soon ena- 
ble him to make an effective demonstration against the be- 
sieging army, which, sustained by a simultaneous attack by 
Pemberton in front, would have a reasonable prospect of success. 



PLANS OF CAMPAIGN. 453 

The project of a direct reenforcement to Johnston, from Lee's 
army, was speedily abandoned, and the more practicable plan 
of rcenforcing Bragg was also dismissed. Nothing whatever 
was to be expected from a victory by Bragg over Rosecrans, 
unless it could be made a decisive victory, ensuring either the 
destruction of the Federal army, or the complete abandonment 
of its advanced line in Tennessee, for which it had paid such 
heavy toll. Such a result, necessitating the reenforcement of 
Rosecrans ,from Grant, meanwhile, after the victory had been 
won, troops being sent to Johnston from Bragg, was indeed 
brilliant to contemplate. Or there was another prospect 
equally agreeable. When Rosecrans had been defeated troops 
might be sent to capture Fort Pillow, on the Mississippi, 
which, cutting off Grant's supplies from the North, as did Port 
Hudson from the South, would compel the Federal army at 
Vicksburg to fight for its subsistence, and under most discour- 
aging circumstances. In addition to these prospects, there was 
also the choice of a movement for the complete redemption of 
Kentucky and Tennessee. 

These brilliant designs of a visionary and vaporing strategy, 
abundant in the Confederacy during the war, and now osten- 
tatiously paraded by the cheap wisdom of retrospection, lacked, 
however, the essential feature of practicability. To have reen- 
forced Bragg sufficiently from Lee's army, to have enabled him 
to undertake the offensive, with any prospect of the complete 
success necessary, would have weakened the army in Virginia 
to such an extent, as to seriously endanger Richmond. Even 
though Bragg were thus sufficiently recnforced to defeat a nu- 
merous army, led by an able commander, and occupying a po- 
sition of great strength, a full month would have been required 
to accomplish the results indicated. Waiving all consideration 



454 LIFE OF JEFFERSON DAVIS. 

of the incertitude of battle, and assuming that success would 
attend every movement of the Confederate army, what reason- 
able calculation would enable Bragg to have gotten his forces 
in readiness, and marched them either into Kentucky to Fort 
Pillow, or to Jackson, in time to have saved Vicksburg? But, 
apart from the folly of so weakening Lee, as to endanger Rich- 
mond (which would have been immediately assailed by Hooker, 
with his command of ninety thousand men, in cooperation with 
the forces at Suffolk, Fortress Monroe, and Winchester — an ag- 
gregate of more than forty thousand more), to undertake oper- 
ations so doubtful and hazardous, was the consideration of the 
promising inducements for an offensive campaign in the East. 

President Davis and General Lee were concurrent in their 
convictions of the wisdom of a campaign which should drive 
the enemy from Virginia, locate the army in an abundant and 
hostile country, and compensate for any disasters which might 
be sustained in the West, by an overwhelming defeat in the 
enemy's country of his main army, which at once covered his 
capital, and the approaches to his large cities. 

This bold and brilliant conception was equally justified by 
the situation, and consistent with that able military policy 
which was throughout characteristic of the Confederate au- 
thorities, and based upon the only theory on which a weak 
power can be successfully defended against invasion. 

The strategic theory which dictated the invasion of Penn- 
sylvania was that of the "defensive, with offensive returns," 
made forever famous by its triumphant practice by Frederick 
the Great — the favorite theory of Napoleon — not less signally 
illustrated by Jackson's Valley campaign, and grandly exe- 
cuted by Lee in his irresistible onset upon Pope. 

Twitted by the newspapers for their infatuation with the 



AN OFFENSIVE DEMANDED. 455 

defensive attitude, and condemned by the voice of the public, 
for the maintenance of a policy which continually subjected 
the soil of the South to the devastations of the enemy, the 
Confederate authorities, neither in the invasion of Maryland, 
in 1862, nor in the invasion of Pennsylvania, yielded merely 
to public clamor. In both instances President Davis and 
General Lee were governed by the sound military considera- 
tions, which in each case justified the assumption of the offen- 
sive. Nothing is more universally conceded than the ultimate 
subjection of a people who permit themselves to be forced 
always on the defensive. On the other hand, no blows have 
been so telling in warfare, as those delivered by an antagonist 
who, lately on the defensive, at the opportune moment, when 
the foe is stunned by defeat, assumes a skillful and vigorous 
offensive. 

It was now the third year of the war, and for more than 
twelve months no considerable success had rewarded the enor- 
mous sacrifices and expenditures of the North. The fluctuating 
sentiment, characteristic of that section, had settled down into 
a feeling of indifference and distrust, beyond which there was 
but one step to the abandonment of the war as a hopeless ex- 
periment. The evident apprehension, by the Federal Govern- 
ment, of an invasion of Pennsylvania, attended by a ruinous 
defeat of Hooker's army, a result which both sides considered 
probable, plainly demonstrated, that the virtual termination of 
the war would be the reward of a successful assumption of the 
offensive by the Confederates. 

A more favorable conjuncture, for a final trial with its old 
antagonist, could not have been desired by the Army of North- 
ern Virginia. The invincible veterans of Longstreet, oftener 
victors than the Tenth Legion of Ceesar, had rejoined their 



456 -LIFE OF JEFFERSON DAVIS. 

companions, who boasted the additional honors of Chancellors- 
ville. Reenforcements from other quarters were added,* and 
the Army of Northern Virginia, a compact and puissant force, 
seventy thousand strong, which had never yet known defeat, 
instinctively expected the order for advance into the enemy's 
country. Never was the morale of the army so high, never 
had it such confidence in its own prowess, and in the resources 
of its great commander, and never was intrusted to its valor a 
mission so grateful to its desires, as that tendered by President 
Davis, " to force the enemy to fight for their own capital and 
homes." 

Under Lee were trusted lieutenants, whose fame, like that 
of their followers, was world-wide, and whose laurels were a 
part of the unnumbered triumphs of the matchless valor of 
that noble army. Longstreet, the Lannes of the South, was 
again at the head of his trained corps — the assembled chivalry 
of the South, in whose exploits every State of the Confederacy 
claimed a glory peculiarly its own. The bronzed veterans of 
Jackson, who had shared the glory of their immortal leader 
from Manassas to Chancellorsville, now followed Ewell, the 
maimed hero, whom Jackson had named as his successor. 
Under Hill, the youngest of the corps commanders, were men 
worthy of a leader who, in twelve months, had filled the suc- 
cessive grades from Colonel to Lieutenant General. The cav- 
alry was still intrusted to Stuart, that bold, able chief, and 
" rarely gallant and noble gentleman, well supporting by his 
character the tradition that royal blood flowed in his veins." 
With such leaders, and with thoroughly tried and efficient 
subordinate officers, improved transportation, equipment and 
clothing, and with numbers approaching nearer an equality 
* Chiefly conscripts. 



CONFEDEEATE DESIGNS. 457 

with the Federal army, than at any other period, the Army of 
Northern Virginia no more doubted, than did its cornmander 
and the Government, that it was at the outset of a campaign 
brilliant and decisive beyond parallel in its history. 

About the middle of May, General Lee visited Richmond, 
when the general features of the campaign were determined. 
The movement from the camps near Fredericksburg and the 
Rapidan, commenced early in June. The incipient feature of 
General Lee's plan was a flank movement, while still con- 
fronted by the array of the enemy — perhaps the most delicate 
and difficult problem in war — by which, leaving the south 
bank of the Rappahannock, he sought to draw the Federal 
army away from its position. To meet the contingency of a 
movement by the enemy in the direction of Richmond, A. P. 
Hill, with his corps d^ armee, was left near Fredericksburg. 
That skillful officer ably executed his instructions, checking 
the Federal demonstrations near his lines, and concealing the 
absence of the main body of the army until the advance was 
well under way. General Stuart fully performed his impor- 
tant part of covering the movements of the infantry, by seiz- 
ing the mountain passes, and detaining the advance of the 
enemy, in the execution of which he fought several fierce cav- 
alry engagements, winning them all with inferior forces. The 
army was marched through an abundant country, not deso- 
lated by war, and affijrding good roads. Important incidents 
of the advance were the capture of Winchester, Berryville, and 
Martinsburg, by the forces of Ewell, with their garrisons, aggre- 
gating seven thousand men, and considerable material of war. 

These brilliant results of Lee's strategy were accomplished 
with wonderful regularity and promptitude, and were attended 
with inconsiderable loss. 



J 



458 LIFE OF JEFFERSON DAVIS. 

Crossing the Potomac, the second stage of the campaign was ' 
the occupation of Western Maryland — the least friendly section 
of the State — where the army could be abundantly supplied, 
and the important objects of destroying the Baltimore and Ohio 
Railroad, and the Cumberland Canal, so valuable to the ene- 
my, could be accomplished. The next step was to advance 
into Pennsylvania, capturing large supplies much needed by 
the army, occupying several large towns of that State, and 
destroying communications — meanwhile the army living on 
the enemy, and kept well in hand for a general engagement, 
whenever battle could he advantageously offered. In the execu- 
tion of this portion of the plan, an extensive and fertile section 
of Pennsylvania was occupied, strong detachments were pushed 
far into the interior, and a movement against Harrisburg was 
in preparation, when the advance of the Federal army induced 
General Lee to concentrate his forces for battle. 

The consummate strategy of Lee had now made him appa- 
rently master of the situation, and gave him the option of ten- 
dering or declining a grand and decisive engagement. It is 
impossible to overestimate the generalship, which, within twen- 
ty-five days, had transferred an army, in the presence of the 
enemy, from the Rappahannock to the interior of Pennsyl- 
vania, making large captures en route, and inflicting heavy 
damage upon the Federal communications, without being even 
momentarily arrested. Never once had been relaxed the grasp 
of that master-hand which controlled the army in all its move- 
ments. Its various parts, within easy supporting distance, 
were clearly so disposed, as to be readily assembled, to meet 
the exigency that was inevitable. When Lee drew in his 
several columns around Gettysburg, the South confident in the 
invincibility of the army, and in the genius of its leader, never 



GETTYSBURG. 459 

'doubted the issue of the grand trial of arms which was at hand. 
With more than apprehension the North awaited the fate of 
the army, upon which its last hope of security rested. A de- 
feat of the Army of the Potomac now would signify, not a 
check in a boastful advance upon Richmond, but the capture 
of Washington, the presence of the avenging columns of Lee 
upon the banks of the Delaware — perhaps of the dreaded 
Stuart upon the Hudson. 

It was contemplated that the invasion of Pennsylvania 
would result in a decisive battle. Indeed, that result was in- 
evitable, unless the Federal authorities should unresistingly 
submit to the invasion — an event not for a moment to be an- 
ticipated. But a vital feature in the theory of the invasion 
was that the position of Lee would necessitate an advance 
against him by the Federal commander, leaving to Lee the 
choice of time and place for giving battle. The calculation 
was that Lee would be master of the situation at all times, 
as indeed he undoubtedly was until the engagement of Gettys- 
burg was joined. We are not here at liberty to discuss the 
details of that battle, or to consider how far it was a depart- 
ure from, or in pursuance of the original design of the Confed- 
erate campaign.* If competent criticism shall condenmn the 

*It has been generally assumed that General Lee committed grave er- 
rors at Gettysburg. The following explanation by Lee shows the extreme 
caution with which such a judgment should be pronounced: "/d had not 
been intended to fight a general battle at such distance frorn our base unless 
attacked by the enemy ; but, finding ourselves unexpectedly confronted by 
the Federal army, it became a matter of difficulty to withdraw through 
tlie mountains with our large trains. At the same time, the country was 
unfavorable for collecting supplies, while in the presence of the enemy's 
main body, as he was enabled to restrain our foraging parties by occu- 
pying the passes of the mountains with regular and local troopst A bat- 



460 LIFE OF JEFFERSON DAVIS. 

tactics of Lee at Gettysburg, he has yet disarmed censure by 
the surpassing magnanimity with which he assumed the re- 
sponsibility. 

The great joy of the North did not exaggerate the terrible 
blow sustained by the Confederacy in the failure of the Penn- 
sylvania campaign. It was the last serious demonstration upon 
Federal soil undertaken by the South — all movements of an 
offensive character subsequently undertaken being merely raids 
or diversions, designed to give relief to the sorely-pressed Con- 
federate capital. It imposed upon the South the cruel neces- 
sity of a continuation of the war upon its own soil — a preca- 
rious defensive, with a capacity of resistance greatly diminished. 

Gettysburg marked the most serious step in that decline of 
Confederate fortunes which the fall of Jackson, in the moment 
of his greatest triumph, so ominously presaged.* 

Yet the condition of Lee's army was far from desperate on 
the morning of the 4th of July, when it still confronted its 

tie thus became, in a measure, unavoidable. Encouraged by the success- 
ful issue of the first day, and in view of the valuable results which would 
ensue from the defeat of the army of General Meade, it was thought ad- 
visable to renew the attack." 

Mr. Swinton, who derived his information from General Longstreet, 
makes a statement which throws much light upon the theory with which 
this campaign was undertaken : " Indeed, in entering upon the campaign, 
General Lee expressly promised his corps commanders that he loould not 
assume a tactical offensive, but force his antagonist to attach him." — Cam- 
paigns of the Army of the Potomac. 

* Major John Esten Cooke justly says: "Gettysburg was the Waterloo 
— Cemetery Hill the Mount St. Jean of the war Not with- 
out good reason is the anniversary of this great battle celebrated at the 
North with addresses and rejoicings — with crowds, and brass bands, and 
congratulations. The American Watei-loo is worth making that noise 
over; and the monument proposed there is a natural conception. 



VICIiSBURG. 461 

antagonist, neither evincing a disposition to attack. Retiring 
in perfect order, and bringing oif his extensive trains and 
seven thousand prisoners, he tendered the enemy battle at 
Hagerstown, while making preparations to recross the Poto- 
mac. General Meade, an able and prudent soldier, made as 
vigorous a pursuit as the crippled condition of his army would 
permit. In a short time General Lee was once more uj)on the 
lines of the Rapidan, and General Meade soon took position 
upon the Rappahannock. Here the campaign terminated, and 
the two armies, like giants exhausted by a mighty wrestle, 
gladly availed themselves of a season of repose. 

But Gettysburg did not complete the agony of the South. 
•The disastrous failure of the most prodigious and promising 
enterprise, undertaken by its largest, and heretofore invincible 
army, was simultaneous with an event hardly less fearful in its 
consequences. On the fourth of July, the garrison of Vicks- 
burg, reduced to the point of starvation, surrendered to the 
persevering and indomitable Grant. This event signified the 
loss of an army of twenty -five thousand men, the possession 
by the enemy of the Confederate Gibraltar of the Mississippi 
"Valley, the loss of all tenure upon the great river by the 
South, and the severance of the Confederacy. Port Hudson, 
with its garrison of five thousand men, being no longer ten- 
able, after the fall of Vicksburg, Avas immediately surrendered 
to the besieging army of General Banks. The sum of Con- 
federate disasters in the summer of 1863, was completed by the 
failure of the attempt to capture Helena, Arkansas, followed 
by the capture of Little Rock, and Federal control of the im- 
portant valley in which it is situated. 

Within ninety days the South was brought from the hope 
of almost instant independence to the certainty of a long. 



462 LIFE OF JEFFERSON DAVIS. 

bitter, and doubtful struggle. Its armies terribly shattered, 
its resources in men and means apparently almost exhausted, 
it seemed for a time doubtful whether the Confederacy was 
capable of longer endurance of the terrible ordeal. The exult- 
ation of the North was proportionate to the extent of its vic- 
tories. A new lease was given to the war. Confidence was 
fully restored, and the Federal Government could now make 
no demand, that would be thought extravagant, upon the 
energies of the North, for the promotion of the object it had 
so much at heart. But a few months sufficed to show that 
the constancy and fortitude of the South was still cajjable of 
a desperate struggle with the power and determination of the 
North. 

This period of misfortune and apprehension was signalized 
by a most determined arraignment of the Confederate ad- 
ministration. It is worthy of remark, however, that in all 
the embittered censure visited upon President Davis, for his 
alleged responsibility for the crushing reverses of the summer 
campaign, there was avowed but little censure of the most 
fatal of those disasters — the failure of the movement into Penn- 
sylvania. The privilege of assailing Mr. Davis with or with- 
out reason, did not include the privilege to condemn Lee and 
his army. 

In the case of Vicksburg circumstances were assumed to be 
different. Without even waiting for the facts, or for any ex- 
planation of that terrible calamity. General Pemberton was 
accused of having betrayed his command. He was of North- 
ern birth, and he had surrendered on the fourth of July — 
such was the evidence of Pemberton's treason. Despite the 
fact that Johnston was known to be in the neighborhood with 
a force collected for the relief of Vicksburg, and though it had 



GENERAL PEMBERTON. 463 

been plain to the country for weeks, that Yicksburg coukl 
not be saved, except by a successful demonstration by that 
force, it was not admitted among the possibilities of the case, 
that Johnston* shared the responsibility for the disaster. 

When, however, the Federal accounts revealed the gallant 
defense made by Pemberton, and thus put to shame the un- 
worthy insinuation of treachery, the censure of that unfortu- 
nate commander and the President assumed another direction. 
Pemberton, it was asserted, was notoriously incompetent, so 
proven, and so represented to the President before his assign- 
ment to command in Mississippi ; and the indignation of the 
country was invoked upon the most signal instance of favoritism 
yet exhibited. The extent to which this censure of Mr. Davis 
was successful, may be estimated, when it is stated that no 
act of his administration so imperiled his popularity as did the 
appointment of General Pemberton. Yet it is undeniable that 
this was the result of the unfortunate sequel at Yicksburg, 
and dictated by popular passion in a moment of terrible dis- 
appointment, rather than by any sufficient reason ever urged 
to show that the appointment was unwise and undeserved. 

Sustained by the recommendations of several of the first 
officers in the Confederate army. President Davis made Pem- 
berton a Lieutenant-General, and assigned him to the com- 
mand of the Department of Mississippi. The command was 

* General Johnston, whether willingly or unwillingly, it is not neces- 
sary for us to inquire, was the favorite of the anti-administration faotion. 
His name and opinions were, upon all occasions, quoted to aid in the 
disparagement of the administration. This faction was as blind in its 
zealotry in favor of Johnston, as in its prejudice against Davis. The 
motive of this zealous championship of Johnston was, however, to ofl- 
set the well-known confidence of General Lee in the President. 



464 LIFE OF JEFFERSON DAVIS. 

one of vital importance to the country, and within Its lim- 
its were the home and all the possessions of Mr. Davis. 
In October, 1862, General Pemberton took charge of his de- 
partment, finding it in a most disordered and embarrassing 
condition. His administration was of a character to give 
great satisfaction to the Government, and its fruits were speed- 
ily realized in the thorough and efficient reorganization of an 
army, but lately defeated, the improved efficiency of its vari- 
ous departments, and the successful defense of an extensive 
district, with forty thousand men, against the armies of Grant 
and Banks, the smallest of which nearly equaled the entire 
force of Pemberton. Indeed, it can hardly be alleged that 
the administration of General Pemberton, previous to the 
siege of Vicksburg, was faulty or unsatisfactory. "With what 
justice, then, can it be charged that Mr. Davis retained in 
command an officer proven to be incompetent? 

In the reports of Generals Johnston and Pemberton, written 
from different stand-points, and each with the object of vindi- 
cating its author, the operations which led to the retirement 
of the latter within the lines of Vicksburg were elaborately 
discussed. It is at least safe to state that General Pemberton's 
reasons are as forcibly stated in explanation of his own con- 
duct, as are General Johnston's in demonstration of the errors 
of his subortlinate. Pemberton was controlled in all his move- 
ments by the paramount purpose of holding Vicksburg, the 
last obstruction to the enemy's free navigation of the Missis- 
sippi, and the connecting link between the two great divisions 
of the Confederacy. If he had abandoned Vicksburg, with a 
view to save his army, and refused to stand a siege, can it be 
reasonably supposed that his assailants would have been more 
merciful? His mission was to save Vicksburg and the Valley 



GENERAL PEMBERTON. 465 

of the Mississippi, and, when forced back by the overwhelm- 
ing ntimbei's of Grant, he preferred even to risk his army, 
rather than to surrender the objects of the whole campaign 
without an effort. 

During the siege, the engineering skill of General Pember- 
ton, and his fertility of expedients were conspicuously dis- 
played. Works, which, under the unceasing and concentrated 
fire of hundreds of guns, were demolished, re-appeared, in im- 
proved forms, which only consummate ingenuity could liave 
devised. AVorks built to withstand guns used in ordinary 
warfare were found wholly inadequate to resist the heavy 
metal of the enemy; and, subjected to the incessant and gall- 
ing fire of musketry, the artillery could with difficulty be 
W'orked. But the energy and resources of General Pemberton 
met even these difficulties. The position of the pieces was 
constantly changing; embankments disappeared under the 
enemy's fire; but the Confederate artillery would still be 
found in position, and stronger than before. 

But the skill of the commander and the heroic endurance 
of the garrison were unavailing. From the first, relief from 
without was expected. For forty-eight days this hope stimu- 
lated the commander and the garrison, and General Pemberton 
subsequently declared that he " would have lived upon an 
ounce a day, and have continued to meet the assaults of all 
Grant's array, rather than have surrendered the city, until 
General Johnston had realized or relinquished that hope." 
AVhen the hope of aid was finally abandoned, the surrender of 
Vieksburg M'as simply a question of time and honor. The 
alternative was either to capitulate or attempt to cut through 
the enemy's lines. In a council of his officers, Pemberton fa- 
vored the latter plan, but yielded to the views of the majority. 
30 



466 LIFE OF JEFFERSON DAVIS. 

The case of General Pemberton was a striking instance of 
public ingratitude. Vindicating his devotion to the cause of 
the South, by surrendering his commission in the Federal 
service, turning his back upon his kindred, and leaving a large 
property in the country of the enemy, he was stigmatized by 
the very people in whose cause he had made these sacrifices. 
His loyalty, capacity, and fidelity were questioned, even while 
he was in the front of death. His noble reply to these accusa- 
tions can never be forgotten. Said he to his troops : " You 
have been told that I was disloyal and incompetent, and that 
I would sell Vicksburg. Follow me, and you shall see at what 
price I shall sell it." The story of the devotion shown at 
Vicksburg is no mean one in the history of the Confederacy. 
But the great qualities of this abused man have even a nobler 
testimony than the gallantry of that defense. Convinced that 
the cloud of prejudice and misrepresentation which followed 
him, rendered useless to the cause his services in high position, 
he tendered his resignation as a Lieutenant-General, and 
requested to be ordered to duty with his original rank of 
Lieutenant-Colonel of Artillery.* 

When the facts belonging to the unfortunate campaign in 
Mississippi were made known, the censure of Pemberton was 
rather for what he failed to do, than what he had done. But 
suppose the same test should be applied to General Johnston ; 
would there not be found an equal wanting of results? If 
Jolinston was powerless to make even a diversion with more 
than twenty thousand men, (his force at the time of Pember- 

* The President ordered a Court of Inquiry for investigation of the facts 
of the campaign in Mississippi. General Pemberton requested that the 
most searching inquiry should be made, and that the court be allowed to 
invite all attainable testimony against him. 



GENERAL PEMBERTON. 467 

ton's surrender,) how much more helpless was Pemberton to 
cheek Grant? 

A dispas-sionatc and careful inquiry will demonstrate that 
the operations of General Pemberton, antecedent to the siege 
of Vieksburg, are far less censurable than was assumed by his 
assailants. There can be no manner of doubt, that if worthy 
of blame, he should not be visited with the whole responsi- 
bility. It is difficult to imagine how Pemberton could have 
adopted a different course, consistently with the main purpose 
of the campaign — which was to prevent the capture of Vieks- 
burg. It is certain that he would have been doubly con- 
demned, if he had executed a safe retreat, and abandoned the 
stronghold without an efibrt to save it. 

A sufficient reply to the statement that Pemberton was ap- 
pointed without the desirable evidence of fitness, is that the 
occasion was one precluding the employment of any officer 
whose capacity for such a command had been proven by ample 
trial. Every officer of established merit w^as then in a position 
from which he could not be spared. The presence of Lee in 
Virginia was deemed necessary by the whole country. The 
most popular of his lieutenants (Longstreet) was then freely 
criticised for an assumed failure in a recent independent com- 
mand ; and, besides, he was obviously needed in the Pennsyl- 
vania campaign. Beauregard was also thought to be in his 
appropriate place, in charge of the coast defenses ; and, indeed, 
it was next to impossible to avoid the employment of a com- 
paratively untried commander in some important position. 
The confidence of Mr. Davis in Pemberton, too, was amply 
sustained by the testimony of officers, in whose judgment the 
country confided. 

But Pemberton failed, and it was the misfortune of the 



468 LIFE OF JEFFERSON DAVIS. 

President to have conferred distinction upon an unsuccessful 
commander. AVaiving all discussion of the extent to which 
Peniberton may be justified, and even conceding the appoint- 
ment to have been a bad one, let us remember how few really- 
capable commanders are produced by even the greatest wars. 
Was President Davis to call twenty into existence, fit to com- 
mand armies, when Napoleon declared his armies did not afford 
half a dozen? Let it be remembered, too, that it was his 
penetration that sustained Lee, Sidney Johnston and Jackson, 
in the face of popular clamor ; that he rewarded, with suitable 
acknowledgment, the skill and gallantry of Ewell, Early, 
Stuart, Gordon, Longstreet, and Hood ; of Breckinridge, Cle- 
burne, Magruder, Morgan, and others Avhose names make up 
the brilliant galaxy of Confederate heroes.* 

That President Davis was tenacious of his opinions is un- 
questionably true, and his firm grasp of his purposes was the 
explanation of his ascendancy over other minds, and a leading 
attribute of his fitness for his position. But this strenuous 

* It is noteworthy that when trial vindicated the confidence of Mr. 
Davis in an officer, of whose capacity the critics were doubtful (as was the 
case in numberless instances), they made no acknowledgment of error. 
For example, the President was accused of the most unworthy nepotism 
in his appointment of General " Dick " Taylor, who was a brother of 
Mr. Davis' first wife. Yet that appointment was insisted upon l)y Stone- 
wall Jackson, in whose army Taylor commanded a brigade. The Presi- 
dent made Taylor a Brigadier, because he thought him competent; and 
afterward a Major-General, because Jackson kyieiv him to be worthy of it. 
Did Taylor's subsequent career vindicate the President or the critics? 

The case of the brave and efficient Early was another instance in which 
Mr. Davis was at variance with the newspaper and congressional censors, 
and in which, as usual, the President was sustained by Lee. It is needless 
to multiply examples. 



MR. STEPHENS' MISSION. 469 

adhesion to a settled aim, characteristic of all men born for in- 
fluence, is a very different quality from that unreasoning zeal- 
otry which belongs to weak minds. If, indeed, the favoritism 
of Mr. Davis lost Vicksburg, with equal justice, it may be 
claimed that it won the Seven Days' victories, Manassas, Fred- 
ericksburg, and Chancellor.sville. 

An interesting event in the history of this period of the 
war, was the unsuccessful mission of Vice-President Stephens, 
to the Federal authorities, designed, as explained by President 
Davis, "to place the war upon the footing of such as are 
waged by civilized people in modern times." The annexed 
correspondence requires hardly a word of explanation. Con- 
sistent with the forbearance and humanity, with which Mr. 
Davis had endeavored to prevent war, by negotiation, was this 
effort to soften its rigors and to abate the bitterness which it 
had then assumed. 

Recent atrocities of the Federal authorities * had compelled 

*One of the worst of these proceedings of the enemy, was the execu- 
tion of Captains Corbin and McGraw. On hearing of their fate, the Con- 
federate Government inquired of the Federal authorities the reason of 
their actions. The response was, that they were executed as spies. The 
record of their trial was then demanded. In answer to this request, the 
Federal Government furnished a copy of the chai'ges and specifications 
against them, and of the sentence of the court which condemned them, 
lid none of the evidence. 

From the papers thus furnished, it appears that it was not true that 
they had been accused or tried as spies — that the sole charge against 
these unfortunate gentlemen was, that they had recruited soldiers for the 
Confederacy in Kentucky, a State embraced in our political system and 
represented regularly in the Confederate Congress by Senators and Kep- 
resentatives. Nor was the evidence of this charge supplied. Not a scin- 
tilla of proof appeared that these men were spies. The sole pretext for 
their execution was the technical one that these officers were recruiting ia 



470 LIFE OF JEFFERSON DAVIS. 

the Confederate Government to seriously entertain the purpose 
of retaliation. Reluctant to adopt a course which would re- 
move the last restraint upon the spirit of cruelty and revenge, 
making the war a system of unmitigated barbarism upon both 
sides, President Davis determined to make an earnest appeal 
to the humanity of the Federal authorities. In addition to 
this object the mission of Mr. Stephens sought the arrange- 
ment of all disputes between the governments, respecting the 
cartel of exchange, upon a permanent and humane basis, by 
which the soldiers of the two armies should be sent to their 
homes, instead of being confined in military prisons. 

To make the mission more acceptable to the Federal Gov- 
ernment, President Davis removed every obstacle to inter- 
course upon terms of equality, and selected a gentleman of 
high position, of known philanthropy and moderation, and 
from several reasons likely to obtain an audience of the Fed- 
eral authorities. The choice of time was not less indicative 
of the magnanimity of Mr. Davis. The Confederate army was 
then in Pennsylvania, apparently upon the eve of a victory 
already assured, and which, if gained, would have placed it in 
possession of the Federal capital and the richest sections of the 
North. At such a moment, so promising in opportunity of 
ample vengeance for the ravages and desolation, which every- 
where marked the presence of the Federal armies, the Confed- 
erate President tendered his noble plea in behalf of civilization 
and humanity. With rare justice has it been said, that this 

one of the States claimed by the enemy, as one of the United States, a 
principle which applies equally to Virginia or South Carolina, and which 
would, if carried out, sentence to the gallows every officer and private we 
had in our service. 



PROUD rOSITIOX OF MR. DAVIS. 471 

position of Mr. Davis " merited the aj)plause of the Christian 
world." 

Mr. Stephens was contemptuously denied even a hearing. 
The sequel soon revealed the explanation of the conduct of 
the Federal Government, by which it became doubl}' charge- 
able for the sufferings of a protracted war, in declining to aid 
in the abatement of its horrors, and by abruptly closing the 
door against all attempts at negotiation. General Meade had 
repulsed General Lee at Gettysburg, while Mr. Stephens was 
near Fortress Monroe. Flushed with triumph and insolent 
in the belief that Lee's army could not escape destruction, the 
Federal authorities declared such intercourse with "rebels" to 
be " inadmissable." In other words, detention of the Confed- 
erate prisoners, and outrages upon the Southern people, were 
part of a political and military system at Washington, and 
would be persisted in. At subsequent stages of tlic Avar were 
seen the objects of this policy, which the Federal Government 
virtually proclaimed, and which it persistently adhere.! to. 

The correspondence between President Davis and Vice- 
President Stephens proudly vindicates the humanity and mag- 
nanimity of the South. It is alone a sufficient reply to the 
cant of demagogues and the ravings of conscience-stricken 
fanatics, over the falsely-called " Rebel barbarities." 

OFFICIAL CORRESPONDENCE. 

RiCHMOXD, July 2, 1863. 
Hon. Alexander H. Stephens, JRichmond, Va. — 

Sir : Having accepted your patriotic offer to proceed, as a mil- 
itary commissioner, under flag of truce, to Washington, you will 
receive herewith your letter of authority to the Comraauder-in- 
chief of the army and navy of the United States. 



472 LIFE OF JEFFERSON DAVIS. 

This letter is signed by me as Commander-in-chief of the Con- 
federate land and naval forces. 

You will perceive, from the terms of the letter, that it is so 
worded as to avoid any political difficulties in its reception. In- 
tended exclusively as one of those communications between bel- 
ligerents, which public law recognizes as necessary and proper 
between hostile forces, care has been taken to give no pretext for 
refusing to receive it, on the ground that it would involve a tacit 
recognition of the independence of the Confederacy. 

Your mission is simply one of humanity, and has no political 
aspect. 

If objection is made to receiving your letter, on the ground that 
it is not addressed to Abraham Lincoln, as President, instead of 
Commander-in-chief, etc., then you will present the duplicate let- 
ter, which is addressed to him us President, and signed by me, as 
President. To this latter, objection may be made, on the ground 
that I am not recognized to be President of the Confederacy. lu 
this event, you will decline any further attempt to confer on the 
subject of your mission, as such conference is admissable only on 
the footing of perfect equality. My recent interviews with you 
have put you so fully in possession of my views, that it is scarcely 
necessary to give you any detailed instructions, even were I, at 
this moment, well enough to attempt it. 

My whole purpose is, in one word, to place this war on the foot- 
ing of such as are waged by civilized people in modern times ; 
and to divest it of the savage character which has been impressed 
on it by our enemies, in spite of all our eiforts and protests. 

War is full enough of unavoidable horrors, under all its aspects, 
to justify, and even to demand, of any Christian rulers who may 
be unhappily engaged in carrying it on, to seek to restrict its 
calamities, and to divest it of all unnecessary severities. 

You will endeavor to establish the cartel for the exchange of 
prisoners on such a basis as to avoid the constant difficulties and 



MK. DA vis' letter. 473 

complaints which arise, and to prevent, for the future, what we 
deem the unfair conduct of our enemies, in evading the delivery 
of the prisoners who fall into their hands j in retarding it by send- 
ing them on circuitous routes, and by detaining them, sometimes 
for months, in camps and prisons ; and in persisting in taking 
captives non-combatants. 

Your attention is also called to th-e unheard-of conduct of Fed- 
eral ofl&cers, in driving from their homes entire communities of 
women and children, as well as of men, whom they find in districts 
occupied by their troops, for no other reason than because these 
unfortunates are faithful to the allegiance due to their States, and 
refuse to take an oath of fidelity to their enemies. 

The putting to death of unarmed prisoners has been a ground 
of just complaint in more than one instance, and the recent exe- 
cution of officers of our army in Kentucky, for the sole cause that 
they were engaged in recruiting service in a State which is claimed 
as still one of the United States, but is also claimed by us as one 
of the Confederate States, must be repressed by retaliation, if not 
unconditionally abandoned, because it would justify the like execu- 
tion in every other State of the Confederacy ; and the practice is 
barbarous, uselessly cruel, and can only lead to the slaughter of 
prisoners on both sides — a result too horrible to contemplate, with- 
out making every efi"ort to avoid it. 

On these and all kindred subjects, you will consider your author- 
ity full and ample to make such arrangements as will temper the 
present cruel character of the contest; and full confidence is placed 
in your judgment, patriotism, and discretion, that while carrying 
out the objects of your mission, you will take care that the equal 
rights of the Confederacy be always preserved. 
Very respectfully, 
[Signed] JEFFEESON DAVIS. 



474 LIFE OF JEFFERSON DAVIS. 

Richmond, 8fch July, 1863. 
His Excellency Jefferson Davis — 

Sir : Under the authority and instructions of your letter to me 
of the 2d instant, I proceeded on the mission therein assigned, 
without delay. The steamer Torpedo, commanded by Lieutenant 
Hunter Davidson, of the navy, was put in readiness, as soon as 
possible, by order of the Secretary of the Navy, and tendered for 
the service. At noon, on the 3d, she started down James River, 
hoisting and bearing a flag of truce after passing City Point. The 
next day, the 4th, at about one o'clock P. M., when within a few 
miles of Newport News, we were met by a small boat of the enemy, 
carrying two guns, which also raised a white flag before approach- 
ing us. The officer in command informed Lieutenant Davidson 
that he had orders from Admiral Lee, on board the United States 
flag-ship Minnesota, lying below, and then in view, not to allow 
any boat or vessel to pass the point near which he was stationed, 
without his permission. By this officer, I sent to Admiral Lee a 
note, stating my objects and wishes, a copy of which is hereto an- 
nexed, marked A. I also sent to the admiral, to be forwarded, 
another note, in the same language, addressed to the officer in 
command of the United States forces at Fort Monroe. The gun- 
boat proceeded immediately to the Minnesota with these dispatches, 
while the Torpedo remained at anchor. Between three and four 
o'clock P. M., another boat came up to us, bearing the admiral's 
answer, which is hereunto annexed, marked B. We remained at 
or about this point in the river until the 6th instant, when, having 
heard nothing further from the admiral, at 12 o'clock M., on that 
day, I directed Lieutenant Davidson again to speak the gunboat 
on guard, and to hand the officer in command another note to the 
admiral. This was done. A copy of this note is appended, 
marked C. At half past two o'clock P. M., two boats approached 
us from below, one bearing an answer from' the admiral to my 
note to him of the 4th. This answer is annexed, marked D. The 



MR. Stephen's reply. 475 

other boat bore the answer of Lieutenaut-Colonel William H. 
Ludlow, to my note of the 4th, addressed to the officer in com- 
mand at Fort Monroe. A copy of this is annexed, marked E. 
Lieutenant-Colonel Ludlow also came up in person in the boat 
that brought his answer to me, and conferred with Colonel Ould, 
on board the Toi'pedo, upon some matters he desired to see him 
about in connection with the exchange of prisoners. 

From the papers appended, embracing the correspondence re- 
ferred to, it will be seen that the mission failed from the refusal 
of the enemy to receive or entertain it, holding the propositioa 
for such a conference " inadmissable." 

The influences and views that led to this determination, after 
so long a consideration of the subject, must be left to conjecture. 
The reason assigned for the refusal by the United States Secretary 
of War, to wit : " that the customary agents and channels are 
considered adequate for needful military communications and con- 
ferences," to one acquainted with the facts, seems not only unsat- 
isfactory, but very singular and unaccountable, for it is certainly 
known to him that these very agents, to whom he evidently al- 
ludes, heretofore agreed upon in a former conference, in reference 
to the exchange t)f prisoners, (one of the subjects embraced in 
your letter to me,) are now, and have been for some time, dis- 
tinctly at issue on several important points. The existing cartel, 
owing to these disagreements, is virtually suspended, so far as the 
exchange of officers on either side is- concerned. Notices of re- 
taliation have been given on both sides. 

The efforts, therefore, for the very many and cogent reasons set 
forth in your letter of instructions to me, to see if these differ- 
ences could not be removed, and if a clearer understanding be- 
twcen the parties, as to the general conduct of the war, could not 
be arrived at, before this extreme measure should be resorted to 
by either party, was no less in accordance with the dictates of 
humanity than in strict conformity with the usages of belligerents 



476 LIFE OF JEFFERSON DAVIS. 

in modern- times. Deeply impressed as I was with ttese views 
and feelings, in undertaking the mission, and asking the confer- 
ence, I can but express my profound regret at the result of the 
effort made to obtain it; and I can but entertain the belief, that 
if the conference sought had been granted, mutual good could 
have been effected by it; and if this war, so unnatural, so unjust, 
so unchristian, and so inconsistent with every fundamental prin- 
ciple of American constitutional liberty, " must needs " continue 
to be waged against us, that at least some of its severer horrors, 
which now so eminently, threaten, might have been avoided. 
Very respectfully, 

ALEXANDER H. STEPHENS. 



DECLINE OF THE CONFEDERACY. 477 



CHAPTER XVI. 

OPERATIOXS OF GENERAL TAYLOR IN LOUISL\NA — THE MISSLSSIPPI VALLEY IR- 
RECOVERABLY LOST TO THE CONFEDERACY FEDERALS FOILED AT CHARLES- 
TON THE DIMINISHED CONFIDENCE OF THE SOUTH FINANCIAL DERANGE- 
MENT DEFECTIVE FINANCIAL SYSTEM OF THE SOUTH MR. DAVIs' LIMITED 

CONNECTION WITH IT THE REASONS FOR THE FINANCIAL FAILURE OF THE 

CONFEDERACY INFLUENCE OF SPECULATION ANOMALOUS SITUATION OF THE 

SOUTH MR. DAVIs' VIEWS OF THE FINANCIAL POLICY OF THE SOUTH AT THE 

BEGINNING OF THE WAR MILITARY OPERATIONS IN TENNESSEE BRAGG 

RETREATS TO CHATTANOOGA MORGAN's EXPEDITION SURRENDER OF CUM- 
BERLAND GAP FEDERAL OCCUPATION OF CHATTANOOGA BATTLE OF CHICKA- 

MAUGA — BRAGG's EXPECTATIONS — GRANt's OPERATIONS — BRAGG BADLY DE- 
FEATED PRESIDENT DAVIs' VIEW OF THE DISASTER GENERAL BRAGG RE- 
LIEVED FROM COMMAND OF THE WESTERN ARMY CENSURE OF THIS OFFICER 

HIS MERITS AND SERVICES THE UNJUST CENSURE OF MR. DAVIS AND GEN- 
ERAL BRAGG FOR THE REVERSES IN THE WEST OPERATIONS IN VIRGINIA 

IN THE LATTER PART OF 1863 CONDITION OF THE SOUTH AT THE CLOSE OF 

THE YEAR SIGNS OF EXHAUSTION PRESIDENT D.WIs' RECOMMENDATIONS 

PUBLIC DESPONDENCY THE WORK OF FACTION ABUSE OF MR. DAVIS. IN 

CONGRESS THE CONTRAST BETWEEN HIMSELF AND HIS ASSAILANTS DEFI- 
CIENCY OF FOOD — HOW CAUSED — THE CONFEDERACY EVENTUALLY CONQUERED 
BY STARVATION, 

nnHOUGH indicating that stage of the war, when began the 
-*- steady decline of the Confederacy, the summer of 1863 
was not wholly unredeemed bv successes, which, however tran- 
sient in significance, threw no mean lustre upon Southern arms. 
A series of brilliant operations marked the career of General 
Richard Taylor in Lower Louisiana. Preceded by a succcs.sful 
campaign in the Lafourche region, an expedition was under- 



478 LIFE OF JEFFERSON DAVIS. 

taken by General Taylor against Brasliear City, in the latter 
davs of June. A strong and important position was carried, 
and eighteen hundred prisoners, with over five millions of 
dollars worth of stores, were captured. For some time the 
hope was indulged, that this success of General Taylor would 
compel the abandonment of the Federal siege of Port Hud- 
son, and that Taylor could also make a successful diversion in 
favor of Vicksburg. This hope was disappointed, and Taylor, 
not having the strength to cope with the large force of the 
enemy sent against him, after the fall of the ISIississippi strong- 
holds, was forced to abandon the country which he had so 
gallantly won. The valley of the Mississippi was irrecover- 
ably in Federal possession, and the Confederacy was able at no 
subsequent stage of the war, to undertake any serious enter- 
prise for its redemption. 

At Charleston the Federal fleet and land forces continued, 
during the summer, their fruitless and expensive attacks. The 
skill of General Beauregard, and the firmness of his small 
command, made memorable the siege of that devoted city, so 
hated and coveted by the North, yet among the last prizes to 
fall into its hands. 

But momentary gleams of hope were insufficient to dispel 
the shadow of disaster, which, by midsummer, seemed to have 
settled upon the fate of the Confederacy. The violent blow 
dealt the material capacity of the South by the surrender of 
Vicksburg ; the diminished prestige, from the serious check at 
Gettysburg, in its wondrous career of victory, and the fright- 
ful losses of the Army of Northern Virginia, were immediately 
followed by a marked abatement of that unwavering confidence 
in the ultimate result, which had previously so stimulated the 
energy of the South. 



CONFEDERATE FINANCES. 479 

The material disability and embarrassment resulting from 
the possession, by the enemy, of large sections of the Confed- 
eracy, and conse(;[uent contraction of its territorial area; the 
destruction of property ; the serious disturbance of the whole 
commercial system of the South, by the loss of Vicksburg ; 
and the diminished confidence of the public, were attended by 
a fatal derangement of the already failing Confederate system 
of finance. 

In the American war, as in all wars, the question of finance 
entered largely into the decision of the result. At an early 
period many sagacious minds declared that the contest would 
finally be resolved into a question as to which of the belliger- 
ents " had the longer purse." In acceptance of this view, the 
belief was largely entertained that the financial distress in the 
South, consequent upon the heavy reverses of this period, 
clearly portended the failure of the Confederacy. 

President Davis, since the war, has avowed his appreciation 
of the financial difficulties of the South, as a controlling influ- 
ence in the failure of the cause. By unanimous consent, the 
management of the Confederate finances has been declared to 
have been defective. The universal distress attendant upon a 
depreciated currency, which rarely improved in seasons of 
military success, and grew rapidly worse with each disaster, 
rendered the financial feature of Mr. Davis' administration, 
peculiarly vulnerable to the industry of a class ever on the 
alert for a pretext available to excite po]>ular distrust of the 
President. With entire justice, we might dismiss this subject, 
claiming for Mr. Davis the benefit of the plea which always 
allows a ruler some exemption from responsibility for the 
errors of a subordinate. We have rarely sought to fasten cul- 
pability upon those who differed with him, in some instances, 



480 LIFE OF JEFFERSOX DAVIS. 

perhaps where it would have more clearly established his own 
exculpation. No act or utterance of Mr. Davis could be urged 
to show that he ever claimed for himself the benefit of such a 
plea. Fidelity to his friends is a trait in his character, not 
less worthy of admiration thau magnanimity and forbearance 
to his foes. His ardent and sympathetic nature doubtless often 
condoned the errors of those whose motives he knew to be 
good ; but his friends can testify that he far more frequently 
overlooked the asperities of his enemies.* 

* General D. H. Hill has given a most manly exhibition of feeling 
toward Mr. Davis, in an article published, some months since, in his 
magazine. We quote from General Hill, who alludes, at length, to the 
alleged rancor of Mr. Davis toward his opponents. General Hill prefaces 
his remarks with the declaration, that he ''has never been among the 
personal friends of Mr. Davis;" that he was "at no time an admirer of 
his executive abilities;" and further declares himself to have been the re- 
cipient of an "unexplained, and perhaps unexplainable wrong," at the 
hands of Mr. Davis. Says this gallant soldier : 

" It was said of Mr. Davis that he could see no good in his enemies and 
no evil in his friends. I know of one instance, at least, of incorrectness 
of the former statement. I was present when a discussion took place in 
regard to the suppression of a newspaper because of the disloyal character 
of its articles, which were producing desertion in the army, and disaffec- 
tion among the people at home. The editor had been converted to Union- 
ism by the battle of Gettysburg and fall of Vicksburg, and, like all new- 
born proselytes, was fiery in his zeal. A cabinet officer present said: 

' This man is not more disloyal than ' (naming a well-known editor, 

whose assaults upon Mr. Davis at this time were very virulent.) 'I don't 
see how one paper can be suppressed without suppressing the other.' To 

this a gentleman replied: 'You are unjust. Mr. , though an enemy 

of the President, yet shows by his abuse of the Yankees that he has no 
love for them. The other editor betrays hatred of the President and of 
his own people.' ^Ir. Davis immediately assented to this, saying: 'You 
have exactly described the difference between the two men.' But 



SECRETARY MEMMINGER. 481 

We have elsewhere explained the appointment of Mr. Mem- 
minger, as having been dictated by other considerations than 
that of a reliance upon his special fitness. But while doubting 
his capacity for his difficult and anomalous situation, we are 
not so sure that he exhibited such marked unfitness as should 
have forbidden his retention in office, and called for the a])- 
pointment of another, with the expectation of a more satisfac- 
tory administration. In the end, yielding to the vast pressure 
against lum, Mr. Memrainger left the cabinet, and Mr. Davis 
appointed, as his successor, a gentleman unknown to himself, 
but recommended as the possessor of financial talents of a high 
order. When Mr. Trenholm became Secretary of the Treas- 
ury, the opportunity for reform had long since passed, if, in- 
deed, such an opportunity existed after the repulse at Gettys- 
burg and the surrender of Vicksburg. It is hardly within the 
range of probability, that, after those reverses, any conceivable 
ingenuity could have arrested the downward tendency of Con- 
federate finances. In the history of Confederate finance, before 
those disasters, is to be found much extenuation, if not ample 

it is not true that he could see no good in his enemies, and that he pur- 
sued them with rancorous hate. I do not doubt that in the comparison 
with his supposed friends, they were in his estifnation both intellectually 
weak and morally perverse. But, apart from this, he could be just and 
appreciative of their merits. I saw him several times during the session 
of a Confederate Congress in which he had been harshly assailed. Once 
he alluded incidentally to his troubles, but without the least resentment 
in language or manner. I think that there was no instance of the supres- 
sion of a newspaper, though several editors wei*e notoriously disloyal to 
the Confederate cause, and still more of them intensely hostile to the Con- 
federate President. Like Washington, Mr. Davis held 'error to be the 
poi-tion of humanity, and to censure it, whether committed by this or that 
public character, to be the prerogative of a freeman.' " 
31 



482 LIFE OF JEFFERSON DAVIS. 

apology, for a system which was imposed by the force of cir- 
cumstances and the novelty of the situation, rather than by 
the errors of one man, or a number of men. 

In his message of December, 1863, Mr. Davis reviewed the 
subject in all its phases, as it had been presented up to that 
period, and sketched the plan, afterwards adopted by Congress, 
but without the result hoped for of increasing the value of 
the currency, by compulsory funding and large taxation. His 
discussion of this subject was always characterized by perspi- 
cuity and force, but finance was that branch of administration 
with which he affected the least familiarity, and which he 
least assumed to direct. Knowing the profound and unremit- 
ting attention which the subject required, he sought the aid of 
others competent for the inquiry, which he had little leisure to 
pursue. 

This subject, during the entire war, was a fruitful theme for 
the disquisitions of charlatans. Finance is a subject confessedly 
intricate, and but few men in any country are capable of able 
administration of this branch of government. Yet the Con- 
federacy swarmed with pretenders, advocating opposing theo- 
ries, which their authors, in every case, declared to be infallible. 
The Confederate administration neither wanted for advisers, 
nor did it fail to seek the advice of those who were reputed 
to have financial abilities. Its errors were, to a large degree, 
shared by the ablest statesmen of the South. 

Criticism is proverbially easy and cheap, after the result is 
ascertained, and we now readily see the leading causes of the 
depreciation of Confederate money. In the last twelve months 
of the war, the rapid and uninterrupted depreciation was oc- 
casioned by the want of confidence in the success of the cause, 
on the part of those who controlled the value of the money. 



FINANCIAL DIFFICULTIES. 483 

Such was the alarm and distrust consequent upon the disasters 
of July, 1863, that the Confederate currency is stated to have 
declined a thousand per cent., within a few weeks. Previous 
to that period the decline was gradual, but far less alarming 
in its indications. The plan adopted by the Government, 
partly in deference to popular prejudice against direct taxation 
by the general Government, and partly as a necessity of the 
situation — that of credit in the form of paper issues, followed 
by the enormous issues necessary to meet the expenses of a 
war, increasing daily in magnitude — pampered the spirit of 
speculation, which, by the close of the second year, had become 
almost universal. This latter influence may safely be declared 
to have greatly accelerated the unfortunate result, and the ex- 
tent of its prevalence reflects an unpleasant shadow upon the 
otherwise unmarred fame of the South for self-denying pa- 
triotism. 

It is customary to speak of the financial management of the 
Confederacy in especial disparagement, when contrasted with 
that of the North. The injustice of this contrast, however, is 
palpable. We are not required to disparage the Federal finan- 
cial system — which was, indeed, conducted with consummate 
tact and ingenuity — to extenuate the errors, in this respect, of 
the Confederacy. The circumstances of the antagonists were 
altogether diiferent ; the position of the South financially, as 
in other respects, was peculiar and anomalous. Completely 
isolated, with a large territory, with virtually no specie circu- 
lation,* hastily summoned to meet the exigencies of the most 
gigantic war of modern times, the South had no alternative 
but to resort to an entirely artificial, and, to some extent, un- 

*At the beginning of the war, the South had only fifty millions of coin, 
and had a paper circulation of about the same amouni. 



484 IJFE OF JEFFERSON DAVIS. 

tried system of finance. From tlie outset, the basis of the 
Confederate system was the patriotism and the confidence of 
the people. The first was nobly steadfast, but the second was 
necessarily dependent upon military success. When at last the 
virtual collapse of the credit indicated the increasing public 
dos]iondcncy, it was plain that a catastrophe was near at hand. 

It has been generally agreed that the only scheme by which 
the South could have assured her credit, was to have sent large 
amounts of cotton to Europe, during tlic first year of the war, 
while the blockade was not effective. This plan, if successfully 
carried out, would have given the Confederacy a cash basis in 
Europe of several hundred millions in gold, in consequence of 
the high prices commanded by cotton afterwards. With even 
tolerable management, the Confederacy would thus have been 
assured means to meet the necessities of the war. The merit of 
this plan depended largely upon its practicability. Mr. Davis 
approved it, but it is easy to imagine how — engrossed with 
his multifarious cares, and occupied in meeting the pressing 
exigencies of each day — he lacked opportunity to mature and 
execute a measure of so much responsibility. 

While the campaign in Mississippi, which terminated so 
disastrously, was still pending, General Bragg continued to 
occupy his position in Southern Tennessee. Too weak to 
attack Eosecrans, because of the reduction of his army, by the 
reenforcements sent to the Mississippi, Bragg was able merely 
t^) maintain a vigilant observation of his adversary. After the 
fall of Vicksburg General Rosecrans received reenforcements 
sufficient to justify an advance against the Confederates. After 
an obstinate resistance the Confederate comnumder was flanked 
by a force, which the superior strength of his antagonist en- 
abled him to detach, and abandoned a line of great natural 



MILTTATIY REVERSES. 485 

strength, and strongly forlillcd. This wiis an important suc- 
cess to the enemy, "who wen; hercMftcr able, with much better 
prospects, to undertake expeditions against tiie heart of the 
Confederacy. General l>)'agg extricated his army from a 
perilous position, and made a successful retreat to Chattanooga. 
Auxiliary to the retreat of Bragg was the diversion made by 
General John Morgiin, which occasioned the detachment of a 
portion of Burnside's forces from East Tennessee, which 
threatened Bi-agg's rear. The expedition of Morgan was 
pushed by that daring officer through Kentu(;lvy and across 
the Ohio, to the great alarm of the States upon the border of 
that river, but ended in the capture of Morgan and nearly all 
his command. 

A most painful surprise to the South was the surrender of 
Cumberland Gap, early in September. This was a serious 
blow at the whole system of defense in Tennessee and the ad- 
jacent States. A Richmond newspaper declared that the pos- 
session of Cumberland Gap gave the enemy the "key to the 
back-door of Virginia and the Confederacy." The officer in 
command of the position was severely censured by the country, 
and though he has since explained his conduct in terms, which 
appear to be satisfactory, the impression prevailed until the 
end of the war, that the loss of this most important position 
was caused by gross misconduct. The comment of President 
Davis explains the serious nature of this affair: "The entire 
garrison, including the commander, being still held prisoners 
by the enemy, I am unable to suggest any explanation of this 
disaster, which laid open Eastern Tennessee and South-western 
Virginia to hostile operations, and broke the line of communi- 
cation between the seat of government and Middle Tennessee. 
This easy success of the enemy was followed by the advance 



486 LIFE OF JEFFERSON DAVIS. 

of General Eosccrans into Georgia, and our army evacuated 
Chattanooga." 

Thus the cooperating movements of Rosecrans in Middle 
Tennessee, and of Burnside in East Tennessee, had the ample 
reward of expelling the Confederates from their strong lines 
of defense in the mountains. Cumberland Gap controlled the 
most important line of communication in the Confederacy. 
Chattanooga was the portal from which the enemy could 
debouch upon the level country of the Gulf and Atlantic 
States. The capture of Vicksburg and seizure of the Missis- 
sippi Valley, by which the Confederacy was sundered, was the 
first stage of conquest. Chattanooga was now the base from 
which was to be attempted the next great step of Federal am- 
bition — the second bisection of the Confederacy. 

When Rosecrans advanced into Georgia, after his occupation 
of Chattanooga, the aspect of affairs was exceedingly threaten- 
ing, and it became necessary to strengthen Bragg sufficiently 
to enable him to give battle, and thus check the advance of the 
enterprising Federal commander. With this view the corps 
of Longstreet was temporarily detached from Lee, and sent to 
Bragg, This accession to his forces gave General Bragg the 
opportunity of winning one of the most brilliant victories of 
the war. The signal defeat of Rosecrans was followed by his 
precipitate retreat into Chattanooga, closely pressed by Bragg. 

For weeks the Federal army was besieged with a good pros- 
pect for its ultimate surrender. The imperiled position of 
Rosecrans had the effect of relieving the pressure of invasion 
at other points, forcing the concentration, for his relief, of 
large bodies of troops withdrawn from the armies in the Mis- 
sissippi Valley and in Northern Virginia. General Bragg 
made an able disposition of his forces in the neighborhood of 



EVENTS NEAR CHATTANOOGA. 487 

Chattanooga, and awaited with confidence the surrender of 
Rosecraus. He subsequently said : " Tliese dispositions, faith- 
fully sustained, ensured the enemy's sj^eedy evacuation of 
Chattanooga for want of food and forage. Possessed of the 
shortest road to his depot, and the one hij which reenforcements 
must reach him, we held him at our mercy, and his destruction 
was only a question of time." 

The situation fully justified this statement. So crippled was 
Rosecrans by his defeat at Chickamauga, that an attack upon 
Bragg was out of the question. The alternative of starvation, 
or retreat, seemed forced upon the Federal army. The roads 
in its rear were in a terrible condition, and the distance over 
which its supplies had to be drawn, was sixty miles. At this 
critical moment. General Grant, whose command had been en- 
larged, after his success at Vicksburg, and now embraced the 
three main Federal armies in the West, reached the field of 
operations. Grant immediately executed a plan of character- 
istic boldness, by which he effected a lodgment on the south 
side of the Tennessee River, and secured new lines of com- 
munication, thus relieving the beleaguered army. General 
Longstreet, to whom the holding of this all-important route 
was confided, made an unsuccessful night attack designed to 
defeat Grant's movement. 

Having relieved the Federal army of the apprehension of 
starvation or a disastrous retreat. Grant now meditated opera- 
tions, which, however hazardous, or however in violation of 
probability may have been their success, were fully vindicated 
by the result. Waiting until he thought his accumulation of 
forces sufficient to justify an assault upon the strong positions 
of the Confederates, Grant finally made a vigorous and well- 
planned attack with nearly his entire force. The result was 



488 LIFE OF JEFFERSON DAVIS. 

a disastrous defeat and retreat of Bragg's army. General 
Grant claimed, as the fruits of his victory, seven thousand 
prisoners and nearly fifty pieces of artillery. 

There were circumstances attending this battle peculiarly 
discouraging to the South. These circumstances were thus 
commented upon by President Davis: 

" After a long and severe battle, in which great carnage was 
iuflicted on him, some of our troops inexplicably abandoned posi- 
tions of great strength, and, by a disorderly retreat, compelled the 
commander to withdraw the forces elsewhere successful, and finally 
to retire with his whole army to a position some twenty or thirty 
miles to the rear. It is believed that if the troops who yielded to 
the assault had fought with the valor which they had displayed on 
previous occasions, and which was manifested in this battle on the 
other parts of the line, the enemy would have been repulsed with 
very great slaughter, and our country would have escaped the mis- 
fortune, and the army the mortification of the first defeat that has 
resulted from misconduct by the troops. 

With this disastrous battle terminated the connection of 
General Bragg with the army, which he commanded during 
a large jwrtioii of its varied career. Fully acknowledging his 
defeat, General Bragg candidly avowed to the Government the 
extent of a reverse, which he declared disabled him from any 
serious resistance, should the Federal commander press his 
success. At his own request he M^as relieved, and, seeking 
recuperation for his shattered health, Mas not assigned to duty 
until February, 1864, when President Davis ordered him to 
the discharge of the duties of " C^)ninianding General," at 
Richmond, the position held by General Lee before his trans- 
fer to the command of the Army of Northern Virginia. 



GENERAL BKAGG. 489 

No commander was more harshly criticised than Bragg, and 
the unfortunate career of the Western army, under his com- 
mand, was an inexhaustible theme for diatribe and invective 
from the opponents of the Confederate administration. Bragg 
was often declared to be, at once the most incompetent and 
unlucky of the " President's favorites." Yet nothing is more 
certain than that an impartial review of his military career 
will demonstrate General Bragg to have been a soldier of 
rare and superior merit. It certainly can not be claimed that 
his campaigns exhibited the brilliant and solid achievements 
of several of those conducted by Lee, or of the Valley cam- 
paigns of Jackson. The great disparity of numbers and 
means of the two sections, enabled few Confederate command- 
ers to achieve the distinction of unmarred success, even before 
that period of decline when disaster was the rule, and victory 
the exception with the Confederate forces. 

But Bragg can not justly be denied the merit of having, 
with most inadequate means, long deferred the execution of 
the Federal conquest of the West. At the time of his as- 
sumption of command, in June, 1862, the armies of Grant 
and Buell, nearly double his own aggregate of forces, were 
overrunning the northern borders of the Gulf States, and 
threatening the very heart of the Confederacy. His masterly 
combinations, attended by loss altogether disproportioncd to 
the results accomplished, recovered large sections of territory, 
which had been for months the easy prey of the enemy, and 
transferred the seat of war to Middle Tennessee. Here he 
maintained his position for nearly a year, vigorously assailing 
the enemy at every opportunity, constantly menacing his com- 
munications, and firmly holding his important line, in the face 
of overwhelming odds, while the Confederate armies in every 



490 LIFE OF JEFFEESON DAVIS. 

other quarter were losing ground. Finally, when forced back 
by the concentration of Federal forces, released by their suc- 
cesses elsewhere, Bragg skillfully eluded the combinations for 
his destruction, and, at an opportune moment, delivered E.ose- 
crans one of the most timely and stunning blows inflicted dur- 
ing the war. No fact of the war is more clearly established 
than Bragg's exculpation from any responsibility for the escape 
of the Federal army from the field of Chickamauga. His posi- 
tive commands were disobeyed, his plan of battle threatened 
with entire derangement by the errors of subordinates, and the 
escape of Rosecrans secured by the same causes. But still more 
cruel was the disappointment of Bragg's well-grounded expec- 
tation of a successful siege of Chattanooga. So clear is his 
exculpation in this case, that no investigation of facts, severely 
reflecting upon others, is required. 

While the controversy between Bragg and Longstreet was 
pending, some disposition was manifested to censure the former 
for his rejection of a plan of campaign proposed by Longstreet 
after the victory of Chickamauga. The latter officer suggested 
crossing the Tennessee above Chattanooga, and then moving 
upon the enemy's rear, with a view to force him back upon 
Nashville. The pregnant criticism of General Bragg quickly 
disposes of the suggestion. Said he : " The suggestion of a 
movement by our right, immediately after the battle, to the 
north of the Tennessee, and thence upon Nashville, requires 
notice only because it will find a place on the files of the de- 
partment. Such a movement was utterly impossible for want 
of transportation. Nearly half our army consisted of reen- 
forcements just before the battle, without a wagon or an artil- 
lery horse, and nearly, if not quite, a third of the artillery 
horses on the field had been lost. The railroad bridges, too. 



GENERAL BRAGG. 491 

had been destroyed to a point south of Ringgold, and on all 
the road from Cleveland to Knoxville. To these insurmount- 
able difficulties were added the entire absence of means to 
cross the river, except by fording at a few precarious points 
too deep for artillery, and the well-known danger of sudden 
rises, by which all communication would be cut oif, a con- 
tingency which did actually happen a few days after the 
visionary scheme was abandoned." General Bragg continues 
a recitation of cogent considerations in support of his objec- 
tions to a plan which he declares utterly wanting in " military 
propriety." 

The culmination of Bragg's unpojiularity was his defeat at 
Missionary Ridge. No officer, save Lee, could, by any possi- 
bility, have hoped for a dispassionate judgment by the public, 
at this desperate stage of the war, of an affair so calamitous. 
The real explanation of that battle was unquestionably con- 
tained in the extract from President Davis' message previously 
given. Although Bragg could oppose but little more than 
thirty thousand troops to the eighty thousand which Grant 
threw against him, the strength of his position would have 
compensated for this disparity, had his troops fought with the 
usual spirit of Confederate soldiers. 

It was not to be anticipated that the enemies of the Presi- 
dent in Congress and the hostile press would fail to find a 
pretext upon whicli to throw the responsibility upon Mr. 
Davis. The disaster was declared to have resulted from the 
detachment of Longstrcet for an expedition into East Ten- 
nessee. It is only necessary to state the facts of the case to 
show the flilsity and injustice of tliis criticism. In the first 
place, as we have already stated, Bragg's force was sufficient 
to hold his tremendously strong position without Longstreet, 



492 LIFE OF JEFFERSON DAVIS. 

should his array fight with its usual spirit. Secondly, Long- 
street's corps was a part of Lee's army, detached for a purely 
temporary purpose with Bragg, and its absence was a source 
of constant anxiety to General Lee. This temporary purpose 
was well served at the battle of Chickamauga, which Bragg 
designed to be a destructive blow, and which failed in a part 
of its purpose, through no fault of that commander. 

It was never intended to leave Longstreet in the West any 
longer than was necessary to relieve Bragg in his great exi- 
gency after the evacuation of Chattanooga. That result being 
accomplished, Longstreet was detained for a few weeks, in the 
expectation that Rosecrans, driven to desperation by his ne- 
cessities, would attempt to retreat, in which event. Long- 
street could perform valuable service in aiding to destroy 
the Federal army. When Grant, however, opened the Fed- 
eral communications, and Longstreet was foiled in his effort 
to prevent it, there was no longer a sufficient reason for his 
detention so far from Lee. Accordingly, he was sent through 
East Tennessee, with the double design of opening communi- 
cation with Virginia, where, at any moment, he might be 
needed, and of clearing East Tennessee of the forces of Burn- 
side. 

Had Longstreet's expedition been successful, it can not be 
doubted that the pressure against Bragg would have been im- 
mediately relieved, and a vital section restored to the Confed- 
eracy. We can not pause, however, to review the incidents 
of General Longstreet's movement, nor to revive the contro- 
versy between himself and a subordinate, evoked by an expe- 
dition whose results exhibited few features of success. 

President Davis, better acquainted with the facts of the war 
than the critics who so often mislead the public, held General 



OPERATIOXS IN VIRGINIA. 493 

Bragg in tliat high estimation to which his unquestioned pa- 
triotism and his military qualities entitled him. Of General 
Bragg it may be fairly said that he made the most of his 
opportunities and his means. If he made retreats, they were 
always preceded by bloody fights, and marked by obstinate 
resistance. If his constrained and sullen retreats lost terri- 
tory, they were not comparable in that respect with that 
mysterious "strategy" of other commanders in high favor 
with the opponents of Mr. Davis, which eventually threatened 
to "toll" the enemy to the Atlantic coast, or the Gulf of 
Mexico, without once bringing him to a general engagement. 

Bragg never feared to stake his fame on the gage of battle, 
and, if he sustained reverses, he won many more victories. 
An educated soldier, he was also a rigid disciplinarian, and 
had little toleration for the demagogism so conspicuous in 
volunteer armies. This was the occasion of much of the per- 
sonal enmity by which he was embarrassed both in and out 
of the army. But, whatever the justice of the public condem- 
nation of Bragg, his period of usefulness in the Western army 
was at an end. Very soon afterwards General Joseph E. John- 
ston took command of the army in Northern Georgia. 

The two armies in Virginia, weakened by the detachments 
from each sent to the West, continued inactive until autumn. 
In October, General Lee prepared a brilliant campaign, the 
object of which was to place his army between General Meade 
and Washington. Meade, though forced back to the neigh- 
borhood of Manassas and Centreville, had become apprized 
of Lee's movement in time to prevent the consummation of 
the strategy of the Confederate commander. An incident of 
the expedition was the severe repulse of a part of General Hill's 
command, attended with considerable loss. Meanwhile, General 



494 LIFE OF JEFFEESON DAVIS. 

Imboden, cooperating with the movemeuts of the main army, 
captured several hundred prisoners and valuable stores in the 
Shenandoah Valley. Early in November, nearly two thousand 
Confederates were captured at Rappahannock Station by a 
movement marked by skill and gallantry on the part of Gen- 
eral Sedgwick. The campaign in Northern Virginia terminated 
with a handsome success by the division of General Edward 
Johnson over a large detachment from INIeade's army at Mine 
Run. In December, General Averill, with a force of Federal 
cavalry, made a destructive raid into South-western Virginia, 
and destroyed portions of the Virginia and Tennessee Rail- 
road. 

At the close of 1863, there were many signs of the ap- 
proaching exhaustion of the South, yet there was good reason 
to hope that, by a vigorous use of means yet remaining, the 
war might be brought to a favorable conclusion. The peace 
party of the North, despite the increased strength and popu- 
larity of Mr. Lincoln's administration, resulting from the Fed- 
eral successes of the summer, was evidently becoming more 
bold and defiant. The whole North, too, was disappointed at 
the prospect of an indefinite resistance by the South. Gettys- 
burg and Viclvsburg were not followed, as had been antici- 
pated, by the immediate collapse of the Confederacy. Under 
such circumstances, the South had much to anticipate from a 
bold and defiant front at the opening of the next campaign. 
Unquestionably its resources were less adequate than before, 
but there was evidently capacity to prolong the war for an 
almost indefinite period. Thus, while the Confederacy could 
not cherish the hope of daring exploits at the opening of the 
campaign, which should again make the enemy apprehensive 
for his own homes, there was a well-grounded anticipation of 



WANING STRENGTH OF THE SOUTH. 495 

a successful defensive, which should wear out the enemy's ar- 
dor, and again present opportunities for bold entcrj^rise. 

The message of President Davis to Congress, which met 
early in December, was one of his ablest productions. Re- 
viewing the entire field of the war, in its more important 
phases, it was equally remarkable for its frank statement of 
the situation, and for the energetic policy recommended. 

There could be no difficulty in comprehending the needs of 
the Confederacy at this distressing period. The three great 
elements of war — men, money, and subsistence — were now de- 
manded to a greatly increased extent. In nothing was the cam- 
paign of 1863 more fatal, than in the terrible losses inflicted on 
the armies of the Confederacy. At the close of the year, the 
Army of Northern Virginia, including the absent corps of 
Longstreet, was weaker, by more than a third of the force carried 
into Pennsylvania. The losses of the Western army had fear- 
fully diminished its strength, and its frequent disasters had 
greatly impaired its morale. Measures were now required 
which should repair the losses, and, if possible, increase the 
army beyond its strength at the opening of the previous cam- 
paign, in order to meet the enormous conscription preparing 
at the North. 

President Davis indicated the following methods of adding 
to the army : " Restoring to the army all who are improp- 
erly absent, putting an end to substitution, modifying the 
exemption law, restricting details, and placing in the ranks 
such of the able-bodied men now employed as wagoners, nurses, 
cooks, and other employes as are doing service, for which the 
negroes may be found competent." 

These were evidently the last expedients by which the Con- 
federate armies could be recruited from the white population. 



496 LIFE OF JEFFERSON DAVIS. 

By successive enactments Congress had empowered the Presi- 
dent to call into the field all persons between the ages of 
eighteen and forty-five. The exigency consequent upon the 
reverses of the summer had necessitated the requisition of the 
last reserves provided by Congress — the class between forty 
and forty-five. . Conscription had failed to give the effective 
strength calculated upon. Each extension of the law exhib- 
ited, in the result, an accession of numbers greatly below the 
estimate upon which it was based. This was largely due to 
the inefficient execution of the law, and to the opposition which 
it encountered in many localities. But the results also indi- 
cated a most exaggerated estimate of the available arms-bear- 
ing population of the South. In the latter part of 1863, the 
rolls of the Adjutant-General's office in Richmond showed a 
little more than four hundred thousand men under arms ; and 
Secretary Seddon stated that, from desertions and other causes, 
" not more than a half — never two-thirds — of the soldiers were 
in the ranks." 

The message of Mr. Davis indicated defective features in 
the system of conscription, and suggested improvements as 
follows : 

"On the subject of exemptions, it is believed that abuses can 
not be checked unless the system is placed on a basis entirely 
different from that now provided by law. The object of your legis- 
lation has been, not to confer privileges on classes, but to exon- 
erate from military duty such number of persons skilled in the 
various trades, professions, and mechanical pursuits, as could ren- 
der more valuable service to their country by laboring in their 
present occupation than by going into the ranks of the army. The 
policy is unquestionable, but the rfesult would, it is thought, be 
better obtained by enrolling all such persons, and allowing details 



EXECUTIVE RECOMMENDATIONS. 497 

to be made of the number necessary to meet the wants of the 
country. Considerable numbers are believed to be now exempted 
from the military service who are not needful to the public in their 
civil vocation. 

" Certain duties are now performed throughout the country by 
details from the army, which could be as well executed by persons 
above the present conscript age. An extension of the limit, so 
as to embrace persons over forty-five years, and physically fit for 
service in guarding posts, railroads, and bridges, in apprehending 
deserters, and, where practicable, assuming the place of younger 
men detailed for duty with the nitre, ordnance, commissary, and 
quartermaster's bureaus of the War Department, would, it is hoped, 
add largely to the effective force in the field, without an undue 
burden on the population." 

The message further recommended legislation replacing 
" not only enlisted cooks, but wagoners, and other employes 
in the army, by negroes." From these measures the President 
expected that the army would be " so strengthened, for the 
ensuing campaign, as to put at defiance the utmost efforts of 
the enemy." 

But the meagre results of conscription revealed not only an 
excessive calculation of the numerical strength of the Confed- 
eracy ; they indicated the reluctance with which the harsh ne- 
cessities of the war, in its later stages, were met. As the war 
was protracted, popular ardor naturally waned, and in the pres- 
ence of losses and reverses, the spirit of voluntary sacrifice 
gradually disappeared. Draft and impressment were now re- 
quired to obtain the services and the means, which, in the be- 
ginning, were lavishly proffered. 

Partially the result of a natural popular weariness of the in- 
creasing exactions of a long and exhaustive struggle, these were 
32 



498 LIFE OF JEFFERSON DAVIS. 

also the legitimate fruits of the distrust so assiduously inculca- 
ted by the fault-finders. When reverses to their armies came 
with appalling rapidity, and, in many instances, in spite of the 
exertions of their ablest and most popular leaders, the people 
saw confidence and industry only in their Government, and 
that Government they were constantly taught to believe grossly 
incompetent and unworthy. Under such circumstances, how 
could there be that unity and cooperation, without which the 
cause was preordained to failure? In that industry which 
sought every possible occasion for censure, that ingenuity which 
exaggerated every error, that intemperance which filled the 
halls of Congress with denunciation, and the land with clamor 
and discontent, the North at last found allies which ably as- 
sisted its armies. 

More violent, intemperate, and unscrupulous than ever, were 
the assaults upon the administration, in that long period of 
agony which followed the disasters in Mississippi and Penn- 
sylvania. Such was an appropriate occasion, when a grief- 
stricken country implored the unanimity which alone could 
bring relief, for agitation, revenge, and invective. In Congress 
Mr. Davis was assailed with furious vituperation, because he 
had refused, at the instance of a member, to remove Bragg, and 
place Johnston in command of the Western army. Yet Gen- 
eral Johnston, after a visit to Tennessee, earnestly advised the 
President not to remove Bragg, as the public interests would 
suffer by that step. Almost daily Mr. Davis was assailed for 
not having properly estimated the war, in the diatribes of an 
able editor, who himself, but a few weeks before hostilities 
opened, declared there would be no war. Of such a character 
were the accusers and the accusations. 

If Jeiferson Davis courted revenge, he could find ample sat- 



DEFICIENCY OF SUPPLIES. 499 

isfaction in the contrast between himself and some of his fore- 
most accusers, which the sequel has drawn. He fell at last, 
but only when that cause was lost, which he unselfishly loved, 
and which his heart followed to its glorious grave. His name 
is already immortal — the embodiment of the heroism, the vir- 
tues, the sufferings, the glory of a people who revere him and 
scorn his persecutors. Nor can the South forget that many, 
who, during her arduous struggle, constantly assailed her 
chosen ruler, have since taken refuge in the camp of those 
who first conquered, and now seek to degrade her people. 

A source of universal alarm in the South, at this period, was 
the deficiency of food. We have elsewhere quoted freely the 
admonitions of President Davis respecting the question of sup- 
plies, and indicating the cause which led to so much suffering 
in the armies of the Confederacy. Ever since the loss of large 
sections of Tennessee, in the spring of 1862, this subject had 
occasioned anxiety. Without entering into details, it may be 
briefly stated, that, with the loss of Kentucky and the larger 
portion of Tennessee, the Confederacy lost the main source of 
its supj)lies of meat. As other sections were occupied by the 
enemy, and communications were destroyed, the area of the 
Confederacy became more and more contracted, and its sources 
of supply still more limited. Even when supplies were abun- 
dant in many quarters, the armies in the field suffered actual 
want, in consequence of the want of transportation, and of the 
remoteness of the supplies from the lines of the railroads. 

But while the meat in the Confederacy was rapidly dimin- 
ishing in quantity, as the Federal armies advanced, and seized 
or destroyed every thing in the shape of subsistence, the army 
was still deprived of supplies which should have been made 
available. The unpatriotic practice of hoarding supplies — a 



500 LIFE OF JEFFERSON DAVIS. 

temptation suggested by the rife spirit of speculation, arising 
from a redundant and depreciated currency — necessitated the 
passage of impressment laws. These laws were practically 
rendered nugatory by the inadequate provisions for their exe- 
cution. In no respect was the timid and demagogical legisla- 
tion of the Confederate Congress, so illustrated as by its adop- 
tion of a system of impressment, which aggravated the very 
evil it was designed to remedy. 

Various expedients were attempted, with partial success, for 
obtaining subsistence beyond the limits of the Confederacy. 
It will be readily seen, however, how precarious was this de- 
pendence. It was impossible for the Confederacy to maintain 
its armies, while its resources in every other respect were rap- 
idly reaching the point of exhaustion. In the end the want of 
food proved the most efficient adversary of the South, The 
final military catastrophe made the Federal army master of a 
country already half conquered by starvation.* 

* My limited space has prevented the extended account of the Confed- 
erate Commissary Department, which was originally designed. The his- 
tory of its commissariat is an important chapter in the history of the 
Confederacy. President Davis was much abused for his retention of Col- 
onel Northrop, who has been charged, both during and since the war, with 
incompetency, corruption, and every conceivable abuse of his office. The 
amount of truth, in the charge of corruption against Colonel Northrop, 
may be estimated, when we state a fact known almost universally in Rich- 
mond, that few persons suffered the privations of the war more severely 
than he. Hundreds of the most respectable gentlemen in the South will- 
ingly testify to the unimpeachable patriotism and purity of Colonel Nor- 
throp. Equally false was the statement that Mr. Davis gratified merely 
his personal partiality in appointing Commissary-General a man who had 
given no previous evidence of fitness. Colonel Northrop, when in the 
regular Federal army, had seen extensive service in that department, 
where he was detailed, after having been disabled. His services were 



COLONEL NORTHROP. 501 

amply testified to by his superiors, who regarded him as having peculiar 
qualifications for the duties of the commissariat. Of these facts Mr. Davis 
had personal knowledge, though, when he placed Colonel Northrop at the 
head of the Confederate commissariat, they had not met for more than 
twenty years. 

Again, when commissioned by Mr. Davis, Colonel Northi-op was the 
Commissary-General of South Carolina — a position to which he would 
hardly have been invited, without at least some conviction, by the authori- 
ties of that State, of his fitness. It is well known, too, that a committee 
of the Confederate Congress investigated the afi'airs of the Commissary 
Department, and made a report which amply and honorably vindicated 
Colonel Northrop. Indeed, a member of that committee, one of the ablest 
men in Virginia, and not friendly to Mr. Davis, declared it to be the best 
managed department of the Confederate Government. 

Editors perpetually clamored against Colonel Noi'throp for issuing half 
rations to the army, who daily issued half sheets to their subscribers — re- 
fusing to understand that in each case the cause was the same, viz., an 
exhaustion of supply, resulting from the depletion of the resources of the 
country. 



502 LIFE OF JEFFEESON DAVIS. 



CHAPTER XVII. 

AN EFFORT TO BLACKEN THE CHARACTER OP THE SOUTH — THE PERSECUTION OP 
MR. DAVIS AS THE SUBSTITUTE FOR THE ASSUMED OFFENSES OP THE SOUTH — 
REPUTATION OF THE SOUTH FOR HUMANITY — TREATMENT OP PRISONERS OP 
WAR — EARLY ACTION OP THE CONFEDERATE GOVERNMENT UPON THE SUBJECT 
— MR. DAVIs' LETTER TO MR. LINCOLN — THE COBB-WOOL NEGOTIATIONS — PER- 
FIDIOUS CONDUCT OF THE FEDERAL AUTHORITIES A CARTEL ARRANGED BY 

GENERALS DIX AND HILL — COMMISSIONER OULD — HIS CORRESPONDENCE WITH 

THE FEDERAL AGENT OF EXCHANGE REPEATED PERFIDY OF THE FEDERAL 

GOVERNMENT — SUSPENSION OP THE CARTEL CAUSED BY THE BAD FAITH OF 
THE FEDERAL ADMINISTRATION, AND THE SUFFERING WHICH IT CAUSED — 
EFFORTS OF THE CONFEDERATE AUTHORITIES TO RENEW THE OPERATION OF 
THE CARTEL — HUMANE OFFER OF COMMISSIONER OULD — JUSTIFICATION OF THE 
CONFEDERATE AUTHORITIES — GUILT OF THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT — MR. 
DAVIs' STATEMENT OP THE MATTER — COLONEL OULd's LETTER TO MR. ELD- 
RIDGE — NORTHERN STATEMENTS : GENERAL BUTLER, NEW YORK TRIBUNE, 
ETC. — THE CHARGE OF CRUELTY AGAINST THE SOUTH — A CONTRAST BETWEEN 
ANDERSONVILLE AND ELMIRA — IMPOVERISHMENT OP THE SOUTH — DISREPU- 
TABLE MEANS EMPLOYED TO AROUSE RESENTMENT OP THE NORTH — THE VIN- 
DICATION OF THE SOUTH AND OF MR DAVIS HIS STAINLESS CHARACTER, HIS 

HUMANITY AND FORBEARANCE — AN INQUIRY OP HISTORY. 

TT is in vain to invoke the admiration of mankind for qnal- 
■^ ities of greatness, displayed either in the history of a nation 
or the life of an individual, unless those qualities shall have 
been adorned by the practice of humanity and the observance 
of high moral obligation. Since the political fabric of the South 
has been overthrown, a brave and virtuous people cherish with 
a more tenacious aifection than ever, that honorable reputation 
which was their birthright, and which they worthily illus- 



AN INFAMOUS DESIGN. 503 

trated during the late war. The violent commotion with 
M'hich the American Union was but lately convulsed has re- 
newed the historical analogy of revolutions, not less in the 
sequel than in its progress. When the strife of arms was 
ended, and the two great armies ceased their death struggles, 
and parted with that mutual respect which is characteristic 
of brave antagonists, events were far from encouraging the 
cessation of sectional bitterness which was to be hoped for. 

The dominant party at the North, apparently not satisfied 
with the political overthrow of the South, and the complete 
extinction of its social system, has followed up the triumphs 
of the Federal armies with a persistent and implacable war 
upon the character and reputation of the South. To affix a 
stigma upon a conquered foe, to brand with infamy a class of 
their own countrymen — the descendants of the compatriots of 
Franklin, Hancock, and Adams — and to consign to perpetual 
obloquy a cause which enlisted the sympathies of five millions 
of peojjle, are the aims of a malignant and remorseless fac- 
tion. These are the motives which have instigated the effort 
to frame an indictment against the Christianity, the morality, 
and the humanity of the South, and to visit every form of 
degradation, to practice every refinement of cruelty upon its 
most distinguished representative. 

It is impossible to explain, upon any other theory, the ex- 
ceptional rigor with which, since the termination of the war, 
Mr. Davis has been pursued. As the most honored by the 
South, he has been selected as the proper substitute upon 
whom to visit the offenses of his people. To convict Jeffer- 
son Davis of heinous offenses against humanity is to blacken 
the cause which he represented — to degrade the people of 
whom he was the chosen ruler. The North should have been 



504 LIFE OF JEFFERSON DAVIS. 

admonished, by previous examples, of the futility of its at- 
tempts to prejudge historical questions of such moment. Of 
what avail were the malignity, the misrepresentation, and the 
unrelenting vindictiveness of England against Napoleon? 

As yet, the North has been unable, even by ex parte evi- 
dence, to obtain a pretext for the arraignment of Jefferson 
Davis for those atrocious crimes of which it was pretended 
he was guilty. Even perjury has proven inadequate to the 
invention of material with which to sustain a complicity in 
guilt, from which his previous character alone should have 
vindicated him. Who can doubt the inevitable recoil when 
the investigations of history, unobstructed by prejudice and 
passion, shall lay bare the facts upon which posterity will 
render its verdict? History, in such a question, will know 
neither North nor South, nor will it accept all testimony as 
truth which comes under the guise of " loyalty/' nor reject as 
falsehood all upon which has been placed the odium of " dis- 
loyalty." 

In this volume, we could not, even if so disposed, avoid 
reference to that question which so involves the honor and 
humanity of the South — the extent of her regard, in the con- 
duct of the late war, for those moral obligations which are rec- 
ognized by all Christian and civilized communities. The course 
of her enemies has left the South no alternative, and she can 
not be apprehensive of the result when the record is fairly 
consulted. 

"VVe have now reached, with a due regard for chronological 
order, a point where naturally arises the subject of the treat- 
ment of prisoners, which, in the later months of 1863, assumed 
its most interesting phase. We approach the subject not with 
any expectation of enlightenment of the Northern mind. Upon 



TREATMENT OF PRISONERS. 505 

this subject a large portion of the Northern people have res- 
olutely turned their backs upon all statements which do not 
favor their sectional prejudices. Calumnies are often believed 
by mere force of iteration; and so persistent has been the effort 
to poison the Northern mind with falsehood that at least a 
generation must pass away before the South can expect an im- 
partial hearing. Nevertheless, by grouping together, in these 
pages, important testimony from various sources, and confined 
to neither section, we hope to promote, however feebly, the 
great end of historic truth. 

At an early period of the contest, the Confederate Govern- 
ment recognized its obligation to treat prisoners of war with 
humanity and consideration. Before any action was taken by 
Congress upon the subject, the executive authorities provided 
prisoners with proper quarters and barracks, and witli rations 
— the same in quantity and quality as those furnished to the 
Confederate soldiers who guarded them. The first action of 
Congress with reference to prisoners was taken on the 21st of 
May, 1861. Congress then provided that "all prisoners of 
war taken, whether on land or at sea, during the pending hos- 
tilities with the United States, shall be transferred by the cap- 
tors from time to time, and as often as convenient, to the De- 
partment of War; and it shall be the duty of the Secretary 
of War, with the approval of the President, to issue such in- 
structions to the Quartermaster-General and his subordinat€s 
as shall provide for the safe custody and sustenance of pris- 
oners of war; and the rations furnised prisoners of loar shall be 
the same in quantity and quality as those furnished to enlisted 
men in the army of the Confederacy." This declared policy of 
the Confederate authorities was adhered to, not only in the 
earlier months of the war, when provisions were abundant, 



506 LIFE OF JEFFERSON DAVIS. 

but was afterwards pursued as far as possible under the pecm- 
liar style of warfare waged by the North. Even amid the 
losses and privations to which the enemy subjected them, they 
sought to carry out the humane purpose of this solemn dec- 
laration. 

The first public announcement by President Davis, with 
respect to prisoners, was made in a letter to President Lin- 
coln, dated July 6th, 1861. This letter was called forth by 
the alleged harsh treatment of the crew of the Confederate 
vessel Savannah, then prisoners in the hands of the enemy. 
, We extract a paragraph of this letter : 

" It is the desire of this Government so to conduct the war now 
existing, as to mitigate its horrors as far as may be possible ; and, 
with this intent, its treatment of the prisoners captured by its 
forces has been marked by the greatest humanity and leniency 
consistent with public obligation; some have been permitted to 
return home on parole, others to remain at large under similar 
condition within this Confederacy, and all have been furnished 
with rations for their subsistence, such as are allowed to our own 
troops. It is only since the news has been received of the treat- 
ment of the prisoners taken on the Savannah, that I have been 
compelled to withdraw these indulgences, and to hold the prisoners 
taken by us in strict confinement." 

In his message, dated July 20th, 1861, he mentioned this 
letter, and thus alluded to the expected reply from President 
Lincoln : 

" I earnestly hope this promised reply (which has not yet been 
received) will convey the assurance that prisoners of war will be 
treated, in this unhappy contest, with that regard for humanity, 
which has made such conspicuous progress in the conduct of 
modern warfare." 



THE WOOL-COBB CARTEL. 507 

Several months elapsed, after the beginning of hostilities, 
before the captures on either side were sufficiently numerous 
to demand much consideration. A proposition was even made 
in the Confederate Congress, to return the Federal prisoners, 
taken at the first battle of Manassas, without any formality 
whatever. 

In February, 1862, negotiations occurred between the two 
governments, with a view to the arrangement of a system of • 
exchange. In these negotiations Generals Howell Cobb and 
Wool represented their respective Governments. The result 
was a cartel, by which prisoners of either side should be 
paroled within ten days after their capture, and delivered on 
the frontier of their own country. A point of difference was, 
however, raised, as to a provision requiring each party to pay 
the expense of transporting their prisoners to the frontier. 
This difference General Wool reported to the Federal Govern- 
ment, which refused to pay these expenses. At a second in- 
terview, March 1st, 1862, this action of the Federal author- 
ities being made known to General Cobb, the latter immedi- 
ately conceded the point, and proposed to make the cartel con- 
form in all its features to the wishes of General Wool. The 
latter declined any arrangement, declaring "that his Govern- 
ment had changed his instructions," and abruptly terminated 
the negotiations. 

The explanation of this conduct was apparent. While the 
negotiations between Generals Wool and Cobb were pending. 
Fort Donelson had fallen, reversing the previous state of 
things, and giving the North an excess of prisoners. These 
prisoners, instead of being sent South on parole, were carried 
into the interior of the North, and treated with severity and 
indignity. Repudiating this agreement, just as soon as it was 



508 LIFE OF JFFFKRSON DAVIS. 

ascertained that their captures at Donelson placed the South at 
disadvantage, the Federal authorities foreshadowed that " con- 
sistently perfidious conduct," which President Davis declared 
to be characteristic of their entire course upon the subject. 

It was im230ssible to bring the Federal Government to any 
arrangement, until the fortune of war again placed the Con- 
federates in possession of the larger number of prisoners. An 
immediate consequence of the Confederate successes in the 
summer of 1862, was the indication of a more accommodating 
spirit by the enemy. Negotiations between General D. H. Hill, 
on behalf of the Confederate authorities, and General John A. 
Dix, on behalf of his Government, resulted in the adoption 
of a new cartel of a completely satisfactory and humane char- 
acter. Under this cartel, which continued in operation for 
twelve months, the Confederate authorities restored to the 
enemy many thousands of prisoners in excess of those whom 
they held for exchange, and encampments of the surplus pa- 
roled prisoners were established in the United States, where 
the men were able to receive the comforts and solace of con- 
stant communication with their homes and families. In July, 
1863, the fortune of war again favored the enemy, and they 
were enabled to exchange for duty the men previously de- 
livered to them, against those captured and paroled at Vicks- 
burg and Port Hudson. The prisoners taken at Gettysburg, 
however, remained in their hands, and should have been at 
once returned to the Confederate lines on parole, to await ex- 
change. Instead of executing a duty imposed by the plainest 
dictates of justice and good faith, pretexts were instantly 
sought for holding them in permanent captivity. General 
orders rapidly succeeded each other from the bureau at Wash- 
ington, placing new constructions on an agreement which had 



PERFIDY OF THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT. 509 

given rise to no dispute while the Confederates retained the 
advantage in the number of prisoners. With a disregard of 
honorable obligations, almost unexampled, the Federal au- 
thorities did not hesitate, in addition to retaining the prisoners 
captured by them, to declare null the paroles given by the 
prisoners captured by the Confederates in the same series of 
engagements, and liberated on condition of not again serving 
until exchanged. They then openly insisted on treating the 
paroles given by their own soldiers as invalid, and those of 
Confederate soldiers, given under precisely similar circum- 
stances, as binding. A succession of similar unjust pretensions 
was maintained in a correspondence tediously prolonged, and 
every device employed, to cover the disregard of an obliga- 
tion, which, between belligerent nations, is only to be enforced 
by a sense of honor. 

We have not space sufficient for even a sketch of the pro- 
tracted correspondence, which ensued between the commission- 
ers of exchange, respecting the suspension of the cartel. In 
its progress Commissioner Ould triumphantly vindicated the 
action of the Confederate Government, in every instance 
meeting in an unanswerable manner, the counter-charges of 
the Federal authorities. The South can require no better re- 
cord of its honorable and humane conduct, than is furnished 
by this correspondence. The Confederate Government was 
singularly fortunate in the selection of Mr. Ould, who unites 
to a most honorable and amiable character, an intellect of un- 
usual vigor and astuteness, as was abundantly shown in his 
conclusive demonstrations of the perfidious conduct of the 
authorities at Washington. 

For twelve months after the date of the cartel (that is, until 
after the battle of Gettysburg), the Confederates held a con- 



LIFE OF JEFFERSON DAVIS. 

siderable excess of prisoners. It has never been alleged, amid 
all the calumny which has assailed the South, that during this 
period, the Federal prisoners (unless held on serious charges), 
were not promptly delivered. Commissioner Ould several 
times urged the Federal authorities to send increased trans- 
portation for their prisoners. On the other hand, numbers of 
Confederate officers and soldiers were kept in irons and dun- 
geons, in many instances without even having charges pre- 
ferred against them. 

On the 26th July, 1863, Commissioner Ould said- in a let- 
ter to the Federal Agent of Exchange : "Now that our official 
connection is being terminated, I say to you in the fear of 
God — and I appeal to him for the truth of the declaration — 
that there has been no single moment, from the time we were 
first brought together in connection with the matter of ex- 
change, to the present hour, during which there has not been 
an open and notorious violation of the cartel, by your author- 
ities. Officers and men, numbering over hundreds, have been, 
during your whole connection with the cartel, kept in cruel 
confinement, sometimes in irons, or doomed to cells, without 

charges or trial The last phase of the enormity, 

however, exceeds all others. Although you have many thou- 
sands of our soldiers now in confinement in your prisons, and 
especially in that horrible hold of death. Fort Delaware, you 

have not, for several weeks, sent us any prisoners 

For the first two or three times some sort of an excuse was 
attempted. None is given at this present arrival. I do not 
mean to be offensive when I say that effrontery could not give 
one." 

In reply to these and similar charges by Commissioner 
Ould, which he, in repeated instances, substantiated by naming 



COLONEL OULD'S CHARGES. 511 

the Confederate officers and soldiers thus shamefully treated, 
the enemy retorted with a charge of similar treatment of Fed- 
eral prisoners. Yet the prison records of the Confederacy, in 
no instance, show the detention of prisoners while the cartel 
was in operation, unless held under grave charges. Commis- 
sioner Ould, in his letter of August 1, 1863, effectually silenced 
this replication. Said he : " You have claimed and exercised 
the right to retain officers and men indefinitely, not only upon 
charges actually preferred, but upon mere suspicion. You 
have now in custody officers who were in confinement when 
the cartel was framed, and who have since been declared ex- 
changed. Some of them have been tried, but most of them 
have languished in prison all the weary time without trial or 
charges. / stand prepared to prove these assertions. This 
course was pursued, too, in the face not only of notice, but of 
protest. Do you deny to us the right to detain officers and 
men for trial upon grave charges, while you claim the right 
to keep in confinement any who may be the object of your 
suspicion or special enmity?" 

The paroles issued after capture were respected by both 
parties, until, about the middle of 1863, the Federal authori- 
ties declared void the paroles of thousands of their soldiers, 
who had been sent North by the Confederate Government. 
At that time, it is noteworthy, the Federal Government had 
no lists of paroled prisoners to be charged against the Confed- 
eracy. The latter had previously discharged all its obligations 
from its large excess of prisoners, leaving still a large balance 
in their favor unsatisfied. In this condition of affairs. Com- 
missioner Ould was notified that " exchanges will be confined 
to such equivalents as are held in confinement on either side." 
After such a display of perfidy, no surprise should be occa- 



512 LIFE OF JEFFEESON DAVIS. 

sioned by the subsequent action of the Federal authorities. 
This announcement, in unmistakable phraseology, meant sim- 
ply that, as the Confederates had returned equivalents for all 
paroles held against them, and the Federals held no paroles 
to be charged against the Confederacy, hereafter no exchange 
would be made except for men actually in captivity. In other 
words, having received all the benefits which they could from 
the observance of the cartel, the Federal Government openly 
repudiated it, the moment that. its operation would favor their 
antagonists. Commissioner Ould promptly declined the per- 
fidious proposition of the enemy, which would have continued 
thousands of Confederate soldiers in prison, after their Govern- 
ment had returned all prisoners in their possession, and yet 
held the paroles of Federal soldiers, largely exceeding in num- 
ber the Confederate soldiers held captive by the enemy. Sub- 
sequently the Federal officers and soldiers, in violation of their 
paroles, and without being declared exchanged, were ordered 
back to their commands. Commissioner Ould then very prop- 
erly declared exchanged an equal number of Confederate officers 
and men, who had been paroled by the enemy at Vicksburg. 
With these transactions ended all exchanges under that 
provision of the cartel which provided the delivery of prison- 
ers within ten days. All subsequent deliveries of prisoners 
were made by special agreement. The facts which we have 
stated, showing the suspension of the cartel to have been oc- 
casioned by the had faith of the Federal Government, are upon 
record, and can not be disputed. They are accessible to every 
Northern reader, who may feel disposed to satisfy his judg- 
ment, hy fads, rather than to foster prejudices based upon the 
most monstrous falsehoods, ever invented in the interest of 
fanaticism and hate. The suspension of the cartel was the 



THE CARTEL SUSPENDED. 513 

direct cause of those terrible sufferings which were afterwards ^ 

endured by the true men of both sides. It led directly to the \ / 
hardships, the exposure, and hunger of Andcrsonville, the 
cruelties of Camp Douglas, the freezing of Confederate soldiers 
upon the bleak shores of the Northern lakes, and those count- 
less woes which are endured by the occupants of military pris- 
ons, even when conducted upon the most humane system. 
Having been guilty of a shameful violation of faith, the Fed- 
eral Government persisted in a policy, which was not only 
cruel to the South, but brought upon the brave men who were 
fighting its battles, the sufferings which the North has falsely 
pictured with every conceivable feature of horror and atrocity. 

Until the end of the war, the Confederate Government con- 
tinued its efforts to secure the renewed operations of the car- 
tel — a policy which humanity to its own defenders demanded. 
Why it was not renewed, the motives which dictated a policy 
which occasioned an almost unexampled degree of human suf- 
fering, is a question abundantly answered in the testimony here 
adduced, the most conclusive portions of which comes from 
Northern sources. 

In January, 1864, it was plain from the disposition of the 
enemy that the majority of the prisoners of both sides were 
doomed to confinement for many weary months, if not until 
the end of the war. Under this impression. Commissioner 
Ould wrote the following letter, which was promptly delivered 
to the Federal Agent of Exchange : 

" Confederate States op America, War Department, 1 
"Richmond, Va., January 24, 1864. I 
'■'Major-General E. A. Hitchcock, Agent of Exchange — 

" Sir: Iu view of the present difficulties attending the exchange 
and release of prisoners, I propose that all such on either side 
33 



514 LIFE OF JEFFERSON DAVIS. 

shall be attended by a proper number of their own surgeons, who, 
under rules to be established, shall be permitted to take charge 
of their health and comfort. I also propose that these surgeons 
shall act as commissaries, with power to receive and distribute 
such contributions of money, food, clothing, and medicines as may 
be forwarded for the relief of the prisoners. I further propose 
that these surgeons shall be selected by their own Government, 
and that they shall have full liberty, at any and all times, through 
the Agents of Exchange, to make reports not only of their own 
acts, but of any matters relating to the welfare of the prisoners. 
"Respectfully, your obedient servant, 

"ROBERT OULD, 

^^ Agent of Exchange." 

To this humane proposition no answer was ever made. It is 
needless to depict the alleviation of misery which its adoption 
would have secured. Can there be but one interpretation of 
the motives of those who rejected this noble offer? These 
propositions are indeed extraordinary, in view of the obloquy 
heaped upon the Confederate authorities for their alleged in- 
difference to the health and comfort of their prisoners. Most 
noticeable, however, is the invitation extended to the Fed- 
eral authorities to investigate, and report to the world, the 
treatment and condition of Federal soldiers in Southern 
prisons. 

But this is far from completing the evidence which convicts 
tlie Federal Government of a purpose to trade upon the suf- 
ferings of their prisoners, and thus inflame the resentment of 
the N"orth during the war, and shows the malignant purpose 
of a faction to establish a foul libel upon the South in the 
mind of posterity. On the 10th of August, 1864, Commis- 
sioner Ould wrote as follows : 



HUMANE EFFORTS OF COLONEL OULD. 515 

"Major John E. Mulford, Assistant Agent of Exchange — 

"Sir: You have several times proposed to me to exchange the 
prisoners respectively held by the two belligerents, officer for offi- 
cer, and man for man. The same offer has also been made by 
other officials having charge of matters connected with the ex- 
change of prisoners. This proposal has heretofore been declined 
by the Confederate authorities, they insisting upon the terms of 
the cartel, which required the delivery of the excess on either 
side upon parole. In view, however, of the very large number 
of prisoners now held by each party, and the suffering consequent 
upon their continued confinement, I now consent to the above 
proposal, and agree to deliver to you the prisoners held in cap- 
tivity by the Confederate authorities, provided you agree to de- 
liver an equal number of Confederate officers and men. As 
equal numbers are delivered from time to time, they will be de- 
clared exchanged. This proposal is made with the understanding 
that the officers and men, on both sides, who have been longest 
in captivity, will be first delivered, where it is practicable. I 
shall be happy to hear from you as speedily as possible, whether 
this arrangement can be carried out. 

" Respectfully, your obedient servant, 

"ROBERT OULD, 

^^ Agent of Exchange." . 

It will be seen that the Confederate authorities, by this 
proposition, consented to waive all previous questions, to con- 
cede every point to the enemy, that could facilitate the release 
from captivity of its own soldiers and those of the North. As 
an inducement to action by the Federal authorities, this letter 
was accompanied by a statement exhibiting the mortality among \f 

the prisoners at Andersonville. Receiving no reply. Commis- 
sioner Ould made the same proposition to General Hitchcock, 



516 LIFE OF JEFFERSON DAVIS. 

in Washington. The latter making no response, application 
was made again to Major Mulford, who rej)lied as follows : 

^^Hon. R. Ould, Agent of Exchange — 

"Sir: I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your 
favor of to-day, requesting answer, etc., to your communication of 
the 10th inst., on the question of the exchange of prisoners, to 
which, in reply, I would say, I have no communication on the 
suhjeet from our authorities, nor am I yet authorized to make 
any. 

"I am, sir, very respectfully, your obedient servant, 
"JOHN E. MULFORD, 

"Assistant Agent of Exchange." 

Nothing could exceed the generosity of this offer. When it 
was made, the North had a large excess of prisoners. By this 
arrangement every Federal soldier would have been released 
from captivity, while a large surplus of Confederates would 
have remained in the enemy's hands. The brutal calculation 
of the Federal authorities was that an exchange would add so 
many thousands of muskets to the depleted ranks of the Con- 
federacy, and would, besides, deprive them of every pretext for 
the manufacture of chapters of " rebel barbarities." 

It was known to the world that the means of subsistence 
in the South was so reduced — chiefly through the cruel warfare 
waged by the North — that Confederate soldiers were then sub- 
sisting upon a third of a pound of meat, and a pound of indiffer- 
ent meal or flour each day. Upon such rations, half naked, 
thousands of them barefooted, Confederate soldiers were ex- 
posed to sufferings unexampled in history. How could it be 
possible, under such circumstances, to prevent suffering among 
the prisoners? Military prisons, under the most favorable 



MR. DAVIs' STATEMENT OF THE MATTER. 517 

circumstances, are miserable enough, but the Federal prisoners 
in the South were compelled to endure multiplied and aggra- 
vated miseries, imposed by the condition of the South — shared 
by their captors, and by the women and children of the country 
which they invaded. But what possible palliation can there 
be for the guilt of a Government which willfully subjected its 
defenders to horrors which it so blazoned to the world ? De- 
claring that "rebel pens" were worse than Neapolitan prisons 
and Austrian dungeons, the Federal authorities yet persistently 
rejected oifers of exchange. 

There could be no more forci))le presentation of the question 
than that made by President Davis : 

" In the meantime a systematic and concerted effort has been 
made to quiet the complaints in the United States of those rela- 
tives and friends of the prisoners in our hands, who are unable to 
understand why the cartel is not executed in their favor, by the 
groundless assertion that we are the parties who refuse compUance. 
Attempts are also made to shield themselves from the execration 
excited by their own odious treatment of our officers and soldiers 
now captive in their hands, by misstatements, such as that the 
prisoners held by us are deprived of food. To this last accusation 
the conclusive answer has been made, that, in accordance with our 
laws and the general orders of the department, the rations of the 
prisoners are precisely the same, in quantity and quality, as those 
served out to our own gallant soldiers in the field, and which have 
been found sufficient to support them in their arduous campaign, 
while it is not pretended by the enemy that they treat prisoners 
by the same generous rule. By an indulgence, perhaps unprece- 
dented, we have even allowed the prisoners in our hands to be 
supplied by their friends at home with comforts not enjoyed by the 
men who captured them in battle. In contrast to this treatment, 



518 LIFE OF JEFFERSON DAVIS. 

the most revolting inhumanity has characterized the conduct of 
the United States towards prisoners held by them. One prom- 
inent fact, which admits no denial nor palliation, must suffice as a 
test : The officers of our army — natives of southern and semi- 
tropical climates, and unprepared for the cold of a northern win- 
ter — have been conveyed for imprisonment, during the rigors of 
the present season, to the most northern and exposed situation 
that could be selected by the enemy. There, beyond the reach 
of comforts, and often even of news from home and family, exposed 
to the piercing cold of the northern lakes, they are held by men 
who can not be ignorant of — even if they do not design — the 
probable result. How many of our unfortunate friends and com- 
rades, who have passed unscathed through numerous battles, will 
perish on Johnston's Island, under the cruel trial to which they 
are subjected, none but the Omniscient can foretell. That they 
will endure this barbarous treatment with the same stern fortitude 
that they have ever evinced in their country's service, we can not 
doubt. But who can be found to believe the assertion that it is 
our refusal to execute the cartel, and not the malignity of the foe, 
which has caused the infliction of such intolerable cruelty on our 
own loved and honored defenders?" 

Since the war, Commissioner Ould lias given testimony of 
the most conclusive character. While the subject of the treat- 
ment of prisoners was pending in Congress, during the past 
summer, he wrote the following letter. It will be observed 
that he offers to prove his statements by the testimony of Federal 
officers. 

" Washington, July 23, 18G7. 
" Jb the Editors of the National Intelligencer — 

" I respectfully request the publication of the following letter, 
received by me from Colonel Robert Ould, of Richmond. It will 



COLONEL OULD'S LETTER. 519 

be perceived that it fully sustains my statement in the House, 
with the unimportant exception of the number of prisoners offered 
to be exchanged, without equivalent, by the Confederate authori- 
ties. Very respectfully, 

"CHARLES A. ELDRIDGE." 

"Richmond, July 19, 1867. 
^^Hon. Charles A. Eldridge — 

*' My Dear Sir : I have seen your remarks as published. They 
are substantially correct. Every word that I said to you in Rich- 
mond is not only true, but can be proved by Federal officers. I 
did offer, in August, to deliver the Federal sick and wounded, 
without requiring equivalents, and urged the necessity of haste in 
sending for them, as the mortality was terrible. I did offer to de- 
liver from ten to fifteen thousand at Savannah without delay. 
Although this offer was made in August, transportation was not 
sent for them until December, and during the interval, the mor- 
tality was perhaps at its greatest height. If I had not made the 
offer, why did the Federal authorities send transportation to Savan- 
nah for ten or fifteen thousand men ? If I made the offer, based 
only on equivalents, why did the same transportation carry down 
for delivery only three thousand men ? 

*' Butler says the offer was made in the fall (according to the 
newspaper report), and that seven thousand were delivered. The 
offer was made in August, and they were sent for in December. I 
then delivered more than thirteen thousand, and would have gone 
to the fifteen thousand if the Federal transportation had been 
sufficient. My instructions to my agents were to deliver fifteen 
thousand sick and wounded, and if that number of that class were 
not on hand, to make up the number by well men. The offer was 
made by me in pursuance of instructions from the Confederate 
Secretary of War. I was ready to keep up the arrangement until 
every sick and wounded man had been returned. 



520 L.IFE OF JEFFERSON DAVIS. 

" The three thousand men sent to Savannah by the Federals were 
in as wretched a condition as any detachment of prisoners ever sent 
from a Confederate prison. 

"All these things are susceptible of proof, and I am much mis- 
taken if I can not prove them by Federal authority. I am quite 
sure that General Mulford will sustain every allegation here made. 
" Yours truly, R. OULD. 

" P. S. — General Butler's correspondence is all on one side, as I 
was instructed, at the date of his letters, to hold no correspond- 
ence with him. I corresponded with Mulford or General Hitch- 
cock. "R. OULD." 

In another letter, written about the same time, Colonel 
Ould thus invites investigation : 

"General Mulford will sustain every thing I have herein writ- 
ten. He is a man of honor and courage, and I do not think will 
hesitate to tell the truth. I think it would be well for you to 
make the appeal to him, as it has become a question of veracity." 

But though President Davis and Colonel Ould are known 
by thousands of people, North and South, to be men of unim- 
peachable truthfulness, and though no honorable enemy would 
question their statements, we can not hope that their testimony 
will make headway against the intolerant prejudices and pas- 
sions of faction. General B. F. Butler is doubtless sufficiently 
orthodox, and, besides, his testimony is voluntary. Says this 
exponent of latter-day " loyalty : " 

" The great importance of the question ; the fearful responsibil- 
ity for the many thousands of lives which, by the refusal to ex- 
change, were sacrificed by the most cruel forms of death ; from 
cold, starvation, and pestilence of the prison -pens of Raleigh and 
Andersonville, being more than all the British soldiers killed in 



GENERAL BUTLER AND THE "TRIBUNE." 521 

the wars of Napoleon ; the anxiety of fathers, brothers, sisters, 
mothers, wive^, to know the exigency which caused this terrible — 
and perhaps as it may have seemed to them useless and unneces- 
sary — destruction of those dear to them, by horrible deaths, each 
and all have compelled me to this exposition, so that it may be 
seen that these lives were spent as a part of the system of attack 
upon the rebellion, devised by the wisdom of the (xeueral-in-Chief 
of the armies, to destroy it by depletion, depending upon our si»- 
perior numbers to win the victory at last. 

" The loyal mourners will doubtless derive solace from this fact, 
and appreciate all the more highly the genius which conceived the 
plan and the success won at so great a cost." 

The New York Tribune will also be accepted as competent 
authority. Referring to the occurrences of 1864, the Tribune 
editorially says: 

" In August the rebels offered to renew the exchange, man for 
man. General Grant then telegraphed the following important 
order: 'It is hard on our men, held in Southern prisons, not to 
exchange them, but it is humanity to those left in the ranks to 
fight our battles. Every man released on parole or otherwise be- 
comes an active soldier against us at once, either directly or indi- 
rectly. If we commence a si/stem of exchange which liberates all 
prisoners taken, we will have to fight on till the whole South is 
exterminated. If we hold those caught, they amount to no more 
than dead men. At this particular time, to release all rebel pris- 
oners North would insure Sherman's defeat, and would compro- 
mise our safety here.'" 

Here is even a stronger statement from a Northern source : 

"New York, August 8, 1865. 
" Moreover, General Butler, in Ms speech at Lowell, Massachusetts, 
stated positively that he had been ordered by Mr. Stanton to put for- 



522 LIFE OF JEFFEESON DAVIS. 

ward the negro question to complicate and prevent the exchange. 

Every one is aware that, when the exchange did 

take place, not the slightest alteration had occurred in the ques- 
tion, and that our prisoners might as well have leen released twelve 
or eighteen months before as at the resumption of the cartel, which 
would have saved to the Republic at least twelve or fifteen thousand 
heroic lives. That they were not saved is due alone to Mr. Edwin 
M. Stanton s peculiar policy and dogged obstinacy; and, as I have 

REMARKED BEFORE, HE IS UNQUESTIONABLY THE DIGGER OF THE 
UNNAMED GRAVES THAT CROWD THE VICINITY OP EVERY SOUTH- 
ERN PRISON WITH HISTORIC AND NEVER-TO-BE-FORGOTTEN HOR- 
RORS. 

" I regret the revival of this painful subject, but the gratuitous 
eflFort of Mr. Dana to relieve the Secretary of War from a respon- 
sibility he seems willing to bear, and which merely as a question 
of policy, independent of all considerations of humanity, must be 
regarded as of great weight, has compelled me to vindicate myself 
from the charge of making grave statements without due consid- 
eration. 

" Once for all, let me declare that I have never found fault with 
any one because I was detained in prison, for I am well aware that 
that was a matter in which no one but myself, and possibly a few 
personal friends, would feel any interest ; that my sole motive for 
impeaching the Secretary of War was that the people of the loyal 
North might hnow to whom they were indebted for the cold-blooded 
and needless sacrifice of their fathers and brothers, their husbands 
and their sons. 

"JUNIUS HENRI BROWNE." 



Now, what is the " inexorable logic " of this train of evi- 
dence? Either the calumnies against the South stand self- 
couvicted, or those who have uttered them show themselves 



THE SOUTH ACQUITTED. 523 

to have been worse fiends than they pretend to believe the 
Confederate authorities to have been. 

But can a candid world credit the charge of cruelty against 
the South ? Honorable enemies, even, will scorn the allegation 
of torture, of designedly inflicting suffering upon helpless men, 
against a people who, within the past six years, have so hon- 
orably illustrated the American name. Brave men are never 
cruel — cowards only delight in torture of the helpless. Cru- 
elty to prisoners would be inconsistent not only with the known 
generosity of the Southern character, but with that splendid 
courage which the North will not dishonor itself by calling in 
question. 

Until the suspension of the cartel, the Federal prisoners, 
even at the risk of their recapture, were kept in Richmond 
convenient for exchange. Confederate prisoners, on the other 
hand, were hurried to the Northern frontier, where the rigor 
of the climate alone subjected them to the most cruel suffer- 
ings. Driven by the course of the Federal Government, re- 
specting the subject of exchange, the Confederate authorities 
selected a site for the quartering of prisoners, whom it was 
impossible to subsist in Richmond or its neighborhood. An- 
dersonville was selected, in accordance with an official order 
contemplating the following objects : "A healthy locality, plenty 
of pure, good water, a running stream, and, if possible, shade 
trees, and in the immediate neighborhood of grist and saw- 
mills." Such were the " horrors of Andersonville," which the 
world has been urged to believe the Confederate Government 
selected with special view to the torment and death of pris- 
oners. 

The terrible mortality among the prisoners at Andersonville 
was not due either to starvation or to the unhealthiness of the 



524 LIFE OF JEFFERSON DAVIS. 

locality. Federal soldiers were unaccustomed to the scanty 
and indifferent diet upon which the Confederates were fed, and 
which caused the death of thousands of delicate youths in the 
Southern armies. By this single fact may be explained much 
of the mortality at Andersonville. When to scurvy and other 
fatal forms of disease, produced by inadequate and unwholesome 
diet, are added the mental sufferings, which are peculiarly the 
lot of a prisoner, the despondency, and, in the case of the An- 
dersonville prisoners, the despair occasioned by the refusal of 
their own Government to relieve them, we have abundant ex- 
planation of the most shocking mortality. 

But the statement that the mortality of Andersonville was 
in excess of that of all other military prisons, is a Avillful false- 
hood. 'We present the following extracts from a letter to the 
New York World, by a gentleman, whose integrity will be 
vouched for by thousands of the best people in Virginia : 

PRISON MORTALITY— ANDERSONVILLE AND ELMIRA. 

"Richmond, Va., August 14. 
"To the Editor of the World— 

"Sir: I have just seen, in a city paper, a paragraph, credited to 
the World, alleging that among the Confederate prisoners at El- 
mira, during the last four or five months of the use of that prison, 
the deaths only amounted to a few individuals out of many thou- 
sand prisoners. I am not able to contro\'^ert that fact, as I left 
there on the 11th of October, 1864 ; but if the impression desired 
to be produced is that the general mortality at that pen was slight, 
I can contradict it from the record. During a portion of the period 
of my incarceration in the Elmira pen, it was my duty to receive, 
from the surgeon's office, each morning, the reports of the deaths 
of the preceding day, and embody them in an official report, to be 
signed by the commandant of the prison, and forwarded to the 



ELMIRA AND ANDERSONVILLE. 525 

commandant of the post. I entered, each morning, in a diary, 
which now lies before me, the number of reported deaths ; and the 
facts demonstrate that, in as healthy a location as there is in New 
York, with every remedial appliance in abundance, with no epidemic, 
and with a great boast of humanity, the deaths were relatively 
larger than among the Federal prisoners at Andersonville among a 
famished people, whose quartermaster could not furnish shelter to 
its soldiers, and whose surgeons were without the commonest medi- 
cines for the sick. The record shows that at Andersonville, be- 
tween the 1st of February and 1st of August, 1864, out of thirty- 
six thousand prisoners, six thousand, or one-sixth, died — a fearful 
rate unquestionably. But the official report of the Elmira pen 
shows, that during the month of September, 1864, which was the 
first month after the quota of that prison was made up, out of less 
than nine thousand Jive hundred prisoners, the deaths were THREE 
HUNDRED AND EIGHTY-SIX. lu Other words, the average mortality 
at x^ndersonville, during that period, was one thirty-sixth of the 
whole per month, while at Elmira it was one twenty-fifth of the 
whole. At Elmira it was four per cent.; at Andersonville, less 
than three per cent 

"Another item, which I gather from my diary, will indicate the 
manner in which the medical officer at Elmira discharged his func- 
tions. The hospitals began to be filled, in the latter part of Au- 
gust, with obstinate cases of scurvy. Men became covered with 
fearful sores, many lost their teeth, and many others became crip- 
ples, and will die cripples from that cause. The commandant of 
the post ordered a report to he made of all the scorbutic cases in 
prison, grave and trifling ; and on the morning of Sunday, Septem- 
ber 11, the lists were added up, when it was found that of nine 
thousand three hundred prisoners examined, eighteen hundred and 
seventy were tainted with scurvy. 

" The Federal Government, as one of its measures of reconstruc- 
tion, is officially and expensively engaged in traducing the South- 



526 LIFE OF JEFFERSON DAVIS. 

ern people, and the facility with which it procures all necessary 
evidence, whether the object be to hang or to calumniate, warrants 
the belief that we shall have a couple of volumes a year for the 
rest of the century, demonstrating the barbarity of the rebels. 
Against so admirable a system of manufacturing evidence, it is, of 
course, idle to oppose the feeble efforts of individuals, but I regard 
the duty none the less binding on such of us as know the truth to 
declare it ; and I hope that, throughout the Southern States, intel- 
ligent and credible men are now putting into authentic form, the 
evidences of Federal outrages, the exploits of the Shermans and 
Sheridans, and Milroys and Butlers, one day to be published by 
general subscription of our people, that the world may judge be- 
tween us and the spoon thieves, the furniture thieves, the barn- 
burners, the bummers, and the brutes who too often wore the uni- 
form of the Federal army. 

«'A. M. K." 

Can the North expect impartial history to accept its miser- 
able subterfuge of " disloyalty/' by which such testimony as 
this is now excluded ? 

Any reference to this subject must be wholly inadequate 
which does not describe the condition of the South at the pe- 
riod when she is alleged to have been guilty of unexampled 
atrocities. The blockade of the South by the North was strin- 
gent beyond any precedent in modern warfare, lledicines were 
held as contraband. Southern hospitals were not supplied, for 
that reason, with all the medicaments that were needed by sick 
and wounded soldiers; and those who were prisoners in our 
hands necessarily shared, in this respeet, the privations of the 
Confederate soldiers. But if there was any thing " cruel and 
inhuman " in this deficiency, whose fault was it ? Of whom is 
the cruelty and inhumanity to be alleged ? The South searched 



DEVASTATION OF THE SOUTH. 527 

her forests and meadows for restoratives. She ran in medi- 
cines, as far as practicable, at great cost and hazard. We 
shared our stores with our prisoners. If the supply was inad- 
equate or ill-assorted, we again ask, arc we to be charged with 
cruelty and inhumanity? 

The same observations are applicable as to supplies of food 
and clothing. The war was waged, by the North, on the 
policy of unsparing devastation. Mills were burnt, factories 
demolished, barns given to the flames, and the means of com- 
fort and of living destroyed on system. What the South was 
able to save, she shared with her prisoners. We gave them 
such rations as we gave our own soldiers. Does any one sus- 
pect the Confederate Government of deliberately stinting its 
own soldiers? How, then, can it be pretended that it was 
" cruel and inhuman " to prisoners whom it fed as well ? If 
we could not maintain them as well as we wished, it was 
through the success of those who wasted our subsistence, for 
the purpose of reducing us to that precise condition of inability. 
It is obviously monstrous to charge •the fact, and to charge it 
as blame, upon us — to accuse the South of " cruelty and inhu- 
manity." * 

*"We present two resolutions of a series adopted by Federal prisoners 
of war : 

^'■Resolved, That whilst allowing the Confederate authorities all due 
praise for the attention paid to our prisoners, numbers of our men are 
daily consigned to early graves in the prime of manhood, far from home 
and kindred, and this is not caused intentionally by the Confederate 
Government, but by the force of circumstances ; the prisoner is obliged 
to go without shelter, and, in a great portion of cases, without medicine. 

^^ Resolved, That whereas, in the fortune of war, it was our lot to become 
prisoners, we have suffered patiently, and are still willing to suffer, if by 



528 LIFE OF JEFFERSON DAVIS. 

But there is still another revelation to be added to the over- 
whelming evidence which demonstrates the murderous purpose 
of the Federal authorities, equally toward their ov/n men and 
toward Confederate soldiers, by which they adroitly sought to 
cover the Confederate Government with accusing blood. ; A 
marked feature in the policy of the Lincoln cabinet was, at 
concerted intervals, to inflame the heart of the North by ap- 
peals to passion and resentment. The supreme excellence of 
the Federal administration, in this respect, was, indeed, its 
substitute for statesmanship. To conceal its own iniquitous 
course, with reference to the exchange of prisoners, the admin- 
istration successfully sought to frenzy the Northern masses by 
the most ingenious misrepresentations of the condition of their 
men in the Southern prisons. 

To this end the foul brood of pictorial falsifiers — the Har- 
pers, Leslies, etc. — gave willing and effective aid. Men in the 
most horrible conditions of human suffering — ghastly skele- 
tons, creatures demented from sheer misery — a set of wretched, 
raving, and dying creatui^s — were photographed, the pictures 
reduplicated to an unlimited extent, and scattered broadcast 
over the North, as evidence of the brutality practiced upon 

so doing we can benefit the country, but we would most respectfully beg to 

say that we are not willing to suffer to further the ends of any party or 

clique, to the detriment of our own honor, our families, and our country ; 

and we would beg this affair be explained to us, that we may continue to 

hold the Government in the respect which is necessary to make a good 

citizen and a soldier. 

BRADLEY, 

^^ Chairman of Committee, on behalf of Prisoners." 

These resolutions were adopted at a meeting of prisoners in Savannah, 
September 28, 1864, and sent to President Lincoln. 



RENEWED PERFIDY. 529 

Federal prisoners in the South. In view of the well-known and 
designed influence of these appeals upon Northern sentiment, 
^liat must be the scorn of the civilized world for the perfidy 
which used the means which we here relate, to accomplish its 
iniquitous ends? 

Immediately preceding the return of these prisoners, the 
Federal Agent applied for the delivery of the icorst cases of 
sick Federal prisoners. Said he: "Even in cases where your 
surgeons think the men too ill to be moved, and not strong 
enough to survive the trip, if they express a desire to come, 
let them come." At this time, it should be remembered, reg- 
ular exchanges were intermitted. Commissioner Ould, con- 
sistently with his known humanity and the humane disposi- 
tion of his Government, consented to send the loorst cases of 
their prisoners, provided that they would not be accepted as 
representatives of the average condition of the Federal pris- 
oners in the South, and used as a means to inflame Northern 
sentiment. This condition was sacredly pledged. 

With this understanding. Commissioner Ould prepared a 
barge adapted specially to the purpose, and, with the aid of 
the Richmond Ambulance Committee, carefully and tenderly 
delivered the prisoners. The Federal vessel that received 
them sailed immediately to Annapolis, where, instead of re- 
ceiving the tender treatment that their pitiable condition re- 
quired, they were made a spectacle of for an obvious purpose. 
Photographic artists made portraits of them ; a committee of 
Congress was sent to report upon their condition ; in short, 
they had been obtained for a purpose; and, how well that 
]iurpose was subserved, the South, at least, well knows. These 
miserable wrecks of humanity, specially asked for, specially 
selected as the worst cases, were pointed to as representatives 
34 



530 LIFE OF JEFFEESON DAVIS. 

of the average state of Federal prisoners in the South, although 
the most sacred assurances had been given that they would be 
used for no such purpose. 

History will be searched in vain for such an example of 
mingled wickedness, perfidy, and cruelty. Yet the faction 
that could practice such treachery and barbarity has dared 
to impeach the honor and humanity of the South. Through 
such means, it, of course, can easily be proven that the South 
"starved and tortured" thousands of Union prisoners. Nor 
can Stanton, Holt, and Conover have difficulty in proving 
that these cruelties were by direct order of President Davis. 

Need we pursue this subject further? We have not ad- 
duced one-tenth of the evidence which completes the record 
of Southern justice and humanity, yet Vvdiat candid mind will 
deny that this testimony is ample? The vindication of the 
South, too, is the assured defense of Jefferson Davis. Nay, 
more : the exceptional victim of Northern malice is known to 
his countrymen to have a special record of humanity which 
should have claimed a special consideration from the enemy. 
Upon no subject was President Davis more censured in the 
South than for what was termed his "ill-timed tenderness" 
for the enemy. Stung to madness by the devastations and 
cruelties attending the invasion of their country, the people 
often responded to the clamor of the newspapers for retaliation 
against the harsh measures of the enemy. Before the writer is 
a Richmond newspaper, of date during the war, in which the 
leading editorial begins with the assertion that " The chivalry 
and humanity of Mr. Jefferson Davis will inevitably ruin this 
Confederacy," and the editor continues to reproach Mr. Davis 
for culpable leniency. 

To the same alletjed cause the Examiner was accustomed to 



HUMANITY OF ME. DAVIS. 531 

attribute what it described as the " humiliating attitude of the 
Confederacy. Said the Examiner: "The enemy have gone 
from one unmanly cruelty to another, encouraged by their im- 
punity, till they are now, and have for some time, been inflict- 
ing on the people of this country the worst horrors of barbar- 
ous and uncivilized war." Yet, in spite of all this, the Ex- 
aminer alleged, that Mr. Davis, in his dealings with the enemy, 
was "as gentle as the sucking dove." The same paper pub- 
lished a "bill of fare" provided for one of the prisons, and 
invoked the indignation of the country upon a policy which 
fed the prisoners of the enemy better than the soldiers of the 
Confederacy. 

Never, indeed, did the ruler of an invaded people exhibit 
such forbearance in the face of so much provocation. When 
reminded of the relentless warfare of the enemy, which spared 
neither age, sex, nor condition, of his devastation, rapine and 
violence, Davis' invariable reply was : " The crimes of our 
enemies can not justify us in a disregard of the duties of 
humanity and Christianity." There can be little doubt that 
Mr. Davis occasionally erred in his extreme generosity to the 
foe. Yet, how noble must be that fame, which is marred only 
by such a fault. History has canonized Lamartine for pre- 
venting the re-raising of the red flag in 1848. What will be 
its award to the heroic firmness of Jefferson Davis, in pre- 
venting the raising of the black flag, among a people, whose 
dearest rights were assailed, whose homes were destroyed, and 
themselves subjected to the most ruthless persecutions known 
in modern warfare? 

But apart from the perjured testimony, which has been ut- 
terly inadequate to establish the charge of " cruelty to prison- 
ers," has the time passed, when the honorable character of a 



532 LIFE OF JEFFERSON DAVIS. 

people and of an individual can be j)roperly considered ? The 
whole history of the United States does not exhibit a public 
career more stainless than that of Jefferson Davis, while in the 
service of the Union. Occupying almost every position of 
honor and trust, in both houses of Congress, member of the 
cabinet, and as a gallant soldier, the breath of slander never 
once tarnished his name. To his incorruptible official and 
private integrity, to the sincerity of his convictions, and the 
rectitude and honesty of his intentions, no men could better 
testify than those Republican Senators, who were, for years, 
his associates. Indeed, Mr. Davis has been peculiar in his 
complete exemption from that personal defamation, which is 
almost a necessity of political life. 

But, impartial history will ask, whence come these calumnies 
against the great, pure, and pious leader of a brave people, in 
a struggle for liberty ? Then must come that inevitable re- 
coil, which shall bring to just judgment, a government, which 
destroyed the houses and the food of non-combatants; the 
fruits of the earth and the implements of tillage ; which con- 
demned its own defenders to imprisonment and death ; which 
imprisoned without charges, gray-haired men, and doomed 
them to tortures, which brought them to premature graves ; 
exposed helpless women and children to starvation, by depriv- 
ing them of their natural protectors ; which declared medicines 
contraband of war, and finally sought, by perjury, to justify 
cruelty to a helpless captive, because his people, in the midst 
of starvation, could not adequately feed and nurture the cap- 
tive soldiers of the enemy. 



POrULAll FEELING. 633 



CHAPTER XYIII. 

DICATIONS OP POPULAR FEELIXG AT THE BEGIXXIXG OF 1864 — .VPATHV AND 

DESPONDENCY OF THE NORTH IMPROVED FEELING IN THE CONFEDERACY 

THE PROBLE.M OF ENDURANCE PREPARATIONS OF THE CONFEDERATE GOV- 
ERNMENT — MILITARY SUCCESS THE GREAT DESIDERATUM — A SERIES OF SUC- 
CESSES — FINNEGAn's VICTORY IN FLORIDA — SHERMAN' S EXPEDITION — FOR- 
EEST's VICTORY — THE RAID OF DAIILGREN — TAYLOR DEFEATS BANKS — 

Forrest's Tennessee campaign — hoke's victory — the value of these 

MINOR victories CONCENTRATION FOR THE GREAT STRUGGLES IN VIRGINIA 

AND GEORGIA FEDERAL PREPARATIONS — GENERAL GRANT — HIS THEORY OP 

WAR — HIS PLANS — THE FEDERAL FORCES IN VIRGINLV — SHERMAN — FEEBLE 
RESOURCES OP THE CONFEDERACY — THE " ON TO RICHMOND" AND " ON TO 
ATLANTA" — GENERAL GRANT BAFFLED — HE NARROWLY ESCAPES RUIN — HIS 
OVERLAND MOVEMENT A TOTAL FAILURE — SHERIDAN THREATENS RICHMOND 
— DEATH OF STUART — BUTLER's ADVANCE UPON RICHMOND — THE CITY IN 

GREAT PERIL BEAUREGARd's PLAN OF OPERATIONS —VIEWS OF MR. DAVIS 

DEFEAT OF BUTLER, "^VND HIS CONFINEMENT IN A "CUL DE SAC " — FAILURE OP 

grant's COMBINATIONS CONSTANTLY B.VFFLED BY LEE — TERRIBLE LOSSES 

OF THE FEDERAL ARMY GRANT CROSSES THE JAMES — HIS FAILURES RE- 
PEATED HIS NEW COMBINATIONS — EARLY's OPERATIONS IN THE VALLEY 

AND ACROSS THE POTOMAC — THE FEDERAL COMBINATIONS AGAIN BROKEN 
DOWN — FAVORABLE SITUATION IN VIRGINIA — THE MISSION OF MESSRS. CLAY, 
THOMPSON, AND HOLCOMBE — CORRESPONDENCE WITH MR. LINCOLN — THE AR- 
ROGANT AND MOCKING REPLY OP THE FEDERAL PRESIDENT. 

1~\ESPITE the solid advantages obtained by the North in 
-^-^ the campaign just ended, the close of the winter devel- 
oped the existence of great apprehension at "Washington, and 
a correspondingly improved feeling in the South. It was in- 
deed remarkable that the conviction entertained by both sides, 
that the struggle was now about to assume its latest and de- 



534 LIFE OF JEFFERSON DAVIS. 

cisive phase, should have evoked such different manifestations 
of feeling at Washington and Richmond. 

At the North was seen a singular apathy, which temporarily 
checked overwrought displays of popular exultation, and a 
mutual distrust of the Government and the public, not at all 
encouraging of success in designs demanding zealous coopera- 
tion. The thoughtful observer of Northern sentiment readily 
detected the presence of depression and suspicion — a general 
apprehension that the restoration of the Union was an enter- 
prise developing new and unseen obstacles at each step, and 
a confusion of views as to the management of the war. But, 
in the violent exhibitions of party spirit, the North realized 
its chief cause of alarm. The peace party increased in num- 
bers and influence with the prolongation of the war, and the 
preservation of power by the Government party was clearly 
dependent upon such military results, as should foreshadow 
the speedy "collapse of the rebellion." In short, the North 
saw that the culmination of the momentous struggle was to 
be reached, while it was in the throes of an embittered Pres- 
idential contest. 

There was another explanation of the altered feeling in the 
two sections developed during the winter. Throughout the 
war, the Northern mind was singularly accessible to the in- 
fluence of sensation and "clap-trap;" hence were always to 
be expected periodical galvanic excitements, followed by revul- 
sion of feehng. The conservative instincts of the South sought 
repose rather than excitement; and the crippled condition of 
the enemy, after his achievements of the summer and fall, 
gave the South a sufficient respite for the recovery of much 
of its lost confidence. Nor was the transition of the South- 
ern mind, within a few weeks, from depression to something 



CONFEDERATE HOPES. 535 

like hopeful anticipation, based upon a mere presentiment of 
prosperous fortune. The lessons of the war, not less than the 
teachings of previous history, encouraged reauimation. It Avas 
contended that the conquest of a territory so extensive, and 
the subjection of a people numerically as strong and as cou- 
rageous as those of the South, was physically impossible. It 
was urged that the Federal successes of the preceding summer 
had only placed the enemy upon the threshold of his enter- 
prise, and that, in surmounting the resolute resistance which 
had almost defeated his earliest movements, he had vainly 
wasted the spirit and the strength which were now needed 
for his further progress. 

From such a condition of feeling, the logical conclusion was 
that the war had now become a question of endurance, and 
that the Confederacy must now depend upon its capacity to 
resist until the North should abandon the war in sheer dis- 
gust. The Richmond journals pithily stated the problem as 
one of "Southern fortitude and endurance against Yankee 
perseverance." 

In the meantime, the enforced quiet of the enemy was dili- 
gently improved by the Government. Probably at no period 
of the war did the Confederate administration exhibit more 
energy and skill in the employment of its limited resources, 
than in its preparations for the campaign of 1864. The vig- 
orous measures of the President were, in the main, seconded 
by Congress, though this session was not wanting in those 
displays of demagogism which, throughout the war, dimin- 
ished the influence and efficiency of that body. In the sequel, 
tlie expedients adopted did not realize the large results antici- 
pated. The financial legislation of Congress did not imjn-ove 
the value of the currency, nor did the various expedients re- 



536 LIFE OF JEFFEKSON DAVIS. 

sorted to for strengthening the army obtain the desired num- 
bers. It was calculated that the Confederate armies would aof- 
gregate, by the opening of spring, something like four hundred 
thousand men, of which the repeal of the substitute law alone 
was expected to furnish seventy thousand. The real strength 
of all the Confederate armies, however, did not exceed two 
hundred thousand men when the campaign was entered upon. 
The execution of the conscription law was a subject of sore 
perplexity to the administration, and, though President Davis 
made strenuous exertions to remedy the difficulty, the system 
continued defective until the end. 

The army was, nevertheless, strengthened both in numbers 
and material, while its spirit, as shown in the alacrity and 
unanimity of reenlistment, was never surpassed. Military suc- 
cess was now the end to which the Government devoted its 
whole energies, as the real and only solution of its difficulties. 
In time of war military success is the sole nepenthe for na- 
tional afflictions. Without victories the Confederacy would 
seek in vain a restoration of its finances through the expedients 
of legislation. Equally necessary were victories for relief of 
the difficulty as to food. Should the spring campaign be suc- 
cessful, the Confederacy would recover the country upon which 
it had been mainly dependent for supplies, and such additional 
territory as was required to put at rest the alarming difficulty 
of scarcity. 

The expectation of the South' was much encouraged by a 
series of successes upon minor theatres of the war, during the 
suspension of operations by the main armies. A signal victory 
was won late in February, by General Finnegan, at Ocean 
Pond, Florida, the important event of which was the decisive 
failure of a Federal design to possess that State. 



Sherman's expeditiox. 537 

The most serious demonstration by the enemy, during the 
winter months, was the expedition of Sherman across the State 
of Mississippi. This movement, undertaken with all the vigor 
and daring of that commander, was designed to capture Mobile 
and to secure the Federal occupation of nearly the whole of 
Alabama and Mississippi. It was the second experiment, un- 
dertaken by Federal commanders, during the war, of leaving 
a regular base of operations, and seeking the conquest of a 
large section of territory, by penetrating boldly into the in- 
terior. The first similar attempt was made by Grant, from 
Memphis into the interior of Mississippi. It is notable that 
both these expeditions were marked by shameful failure. They 
signally illustrated the military principle of the impossibility 
of successful penetration of hostile territory, even when held by 
a greatly inferior force, and, moreover, clearly indicate the fate 
that would inevitably have overtaken Sherman, in his " march 
to the sea," had there been an opposing army to meet him. 
When Van Dorn captured Grant's supplies at Holly Springs, in 
the autumn of 1862, the Federal commander had no alternative 
but to make a rapid retreat to his base. A similar experience 
awaited Sherman, who, leaving Vicksburg with thirty thousand 
men, marched without opposition through Mississippi — General 
Polk, with his corps of ten thousand men, falling back before 
him. Cooperating with Sherman was a large cavalry force, 
which, leaving North Mississippi, was to unite with him at 
Meridian, and upon this junction of forces depended the success 
of the entire expedition. But General Forrest, a remarkably 
skillful and energetic cavalry leader, attacked the Federal col- 
umn, utterly routing and dispersing it, though not having 
more than one-third the force of the enemy. This neces- 
sitated the retreat of Sherman, with many circumstances in- 



538 LIFE OF JEFFEESON DAVIS. 

dicating demoralization among his troops. His expedition 
terminated with no results sufficient to give it more dignity, 
than properly belonged to at least a dozen other plundering 
and incendiary enterprises, undertaken by Federal officers who 
are comparatively without reputation. The exploits of Sher- 
man in Mississippi gave him a "bad eminence," which he 
afterwards well sustained by the burning of Rome and At- 
lanta, the sack of Columbia, and his career of pillage and 
incendiarism in the Carolinas. 

A notable event of the winter was the raid of Dahlgren, an 
expedition marked by every dastardly and atrocious feature 
imaginable. When this expedition of " 2)icked " Federal cav- 
alry had been put to ignominious flight by the departmental 
clerks at Richmond, its retreat was harassed by local and 
temporary organizations of farmers, school-boys, and furloughed 
men from Lee's army. Not until its leader was killed, how- 
ever, was revealed the fiendish errand which he had under- 
taken. Upon his person was found ample documentary evi- 
dence of the objects of the expedition, viz. : to burn and sack 
the city of Richmond, and to assasshiate President Davis and 
his cabinet.^ Yet this ma», killed in honorable combat, after 

* Upon the person of Dahlgren was found the addi'oss, fi-om which ex- 
tracts relative to the purpose of the expedition are given. The portions 
which we omit are mainly exhortations to the courage of the men in a 
desperate enterprise : 

'■'■ Officers and men — 

"You have been selected from brigades and regiments, as a picked 
command, to attempt a desperate undertaking — an undertaking, which, if 
successful, will write your names on the hearts of your countrj'iucn in 
letters that can never be erased, and which will cause the praj-ers of 
your fellow-soldiers, now confined in loathsome prisons, to follow you 
wherever you may go. 



THE DAHLGREN PAPERS. 539 

his cut-throat mission had failed, was apotheosized by the 
North as a " hero," who had been " assassinated " while on 
au errand of patriotism and philanthropy. The shocking 
details of this diabolical scheme, substantiated by every neces- 
sary proof of authenticity, were published in the Richmond 
journals, and instead of provoking the condemnation of the 

''We hope to release the prisoners from Belle Island first, and, having 
seen them fairly started, v/e will cross the James River into Kichmond, 
destroying the bridges after us, and exhorting the released prisoners to 
destroy and burn the hateful city; and do not allow the rebel leader, 
Davis, and his traitoi'ous crew to escape," etc. The conclusion of this 
remarkable order is, "Ask the blessing of the Almighty, and do not fear 
the enemy." 

"We have not space for the indisputable testimony which has estab- 
lished the authenticity of the " Dahlgren Papers " — a subject upon which 
there is no longer room for doubt. The writer, at the time of this raid, 
had full descrij^tions of them from persons who saw the originals. They 
were found upon Dalilgren's body by a school-boy thirteen years old, who 
could not write, and were immediately placed in the hands of his teacher. 
Tlie soiled folds of the paper were plainly visible. The words referring 
to the murder of President Davis were a part of the regular test of the 
manuscript. Additional proof of the authenticity of the papers was fur- 
nished by the note-ljook, also found upon the person of Dahlgren, con- 
taining a rough draft of the address to the troops, and various memoranda. 
The address was written in pencil in the note-book, and differs very 
slightly from the copy, containing, however, the injunction that the Con- 
federate authorities be " killed on the spot." The statement of ^Ir. Hal- 
bach, who is still living, supported by the testimony of a number of 
persons, must be deemed conclusive of the genuineness of the documents 
pu1)lished in the Richmond journals. 

I Ion. Stephen R. ]\Iallory, late Confederate Secretary of the Xavy, has 
recently made the following statement of Mr. Davis' course concerning 
this matter: 

"An expedition directed avowedly against the lives of the heads of the 



540 LIFE OF JEFFERSON DAVIS. 

hypocritical " humanity " of the North^ with characteristic ef- 
frontery were ridiculed as " rebel forgeries." 

The Trans-Mississippi region was, in the early spring, the 
scene of brilliant and important Confederate successes. About 
the middle of March, the famous "Red River Expedition" of 
General Banks, contemplating the complete subjugation of 
Louisiana, and the occupation of Western Texas, was under- 
taken. The result was, perhaps, the most ignominious flulure 
of the war. Defeated by General Taylor, in a decisive en- 
gagement at Mansfield, General Banks, with great difficulty, 
effected his retreat down Red River, and abandoned the en- 
terprise, which he had undertaken with such extravagant an- 
ticipations of fame and wealth. 

In the month of April, Forrest executed a brilliant cam- 
paign among the Federal garrisons in Tennessee, capturing 

Government, and aiming at firing an entire city, was deemed so violative 
of the rules of vs^ar as to demand a retribution of death upon all con- 
cerned in it. 

"The subject was one of universal discussion in Richmond; excitement 
increased with what it fed upon ; Congress participated in it ; and a pres- 
sure was brought to bear upon Mr. Davis to order the execution of some 
of the captured. 

"He entertained no doubt that justice, humanity, and policy equally 
forbade this cruel measure, and refused to sanction it; and at the same 
time referred the subject to General Lee, then near Petersburg, for im- 
mediate attention. The General's answer promptly came, asserting, 
without having been apprized of them, the views already presented by 
Mr. Davis; and the chief of which was, that the men, having surren- 
dered with arms in their hands, and been accepted and treated as pris- 
oners of war, could not, in retaliation for the unexecuted designs of their 
leader, be treated otherwise. This disposed of the case, and satisfied the 
people, who were ever ready to recognize the wisdom and policy of Gen- 
eral Lee's judgment." 



CONFEDERATE SUCCESSES. 541 

several thousand prisoners and adding large numbers of re- 
cruits to his forces. With a force mainly organized within 
three months, this dashing officer penetrated the interior of 
Tennessee, which the enemy had already declared " con- 
quered," capturing garrisons and stores, and concluded his 
campaign by penetrating to the Mississippi River, and suc- 
cessfully storming Fort Pillow.* The most encouraging event 
of the spring was the capture of Plymouth, North Carolina, 
by General Hoke. This enterprise, executed with great gal- 
lantry and skill, had the tangible reward of a large number 
of prisoners, many cannon, and an important position with 
reference to the question of supplies.f 

The aggregate of these Confederate successes was not incon- 
siderable. Expectation was strengthened by them at the 
South, and proportionately disappointed at the North. It 
was chiefly in their influence upon public feeling that these 
minor victories were valuable, as they in no way affected the 
main current of the war, and were speedily overlooked at 
the first sound of the mighty shock of arms along the Rapi- 
dan and in Northern Georgia. Indeed, the actors in these 

*Thc "Fort Pillow massacre " was a fruitful themo for new chapters 
of " rebel barbarities." Forrest was charged with indiscriminate slaughter 
of a captive garrison, when, in fact, he only continued to fight a garrison 
which had not surrendered. After the Confederates had forced their way 
into the fort, the flag was not taken down, nor did the garrison offer to 
surrender. The explanation obviously was that the enemy relied upon 
their gunboats in the river to destroy Forrest's forces after they had en- 
tered the fort. 

fin the last two years of the war, there were few more promising 
officers than General Hoke. Mr. Davis thought very highly of his capac- 
ity, and, upon one occasion, alluded to him as " that gallant North Caro- 
linian, who alwaj's did his duty, and did it thoroughly." 



542 LIFE OF JEFFERSON DAVIS. 

preliminary events were, in most instances, themselves shifted 
to these two main theatres, upon which the concentrated 
power of each contestant was preparing its most desperate 
exertions. Troops on both sides were recalled from South 
Carolina, and even Florida, to participate in the great wrestle 
for the Confederate capital, and the impending struggle in 
Georgia absorbed nearly all the forces hitherto operating west 
of the Alleghanies and east of the Mississippi. 

However discouraged may have been the public mind of the 
North at the beginning of the year, the preparations of the 
Federal Government, for the spring campaign, indicated no 
abatement of energy or determination. Well aware of the di- 
minished resources of the South, and of the political necessities 
which imperatively demanded speedy and decisive successes, 
the Federal administration prepared a more vigorous use of 
its great means than had yet been attempted. The draft was 
energetically enforced, and volunteering was stimulated by 
high bounties. At no period of the Avar were the Federal 
armies so numerous, so well equipped and provided with every 
means that tends to make war successful. Their morale was 
better than at the outset of any previous campaign. The 
Federal armies were now inured to war, composed mainly of 
seasoned veterans, and commanded by officers whose capacity 
had been amply tested in battle. 

The agents selected by the Federal Government, to carry out 
its designs, were men whose previous career justified their se- 
lection. The sagacity of the North had, at length, realized the 
one essential object, to the accomplishment of which all its 
efforts must contribute. This object was the destruction of 
Lee's army. Virginia was justly declared the "backbone" of 
Confederate power ; Lee's army was the pedestal of the edifice. 



GENERAL GRANT. 543 

It was in the clearer appreciation of this object, and in the de- 
termination to subordinate every concern of the war to its ac- 
complishment, that Northern sentiment made a step forward, 
that was, of itself, no insignificant auxiliary to ultimate suc- 
cess. The blows which Sherman prepared to deliver upon the 
distant fields of Georgia, were aimed at Lee's army, not less 
than were those of Grant. While the latter " hammered away 
continuously " in Virginia, to pulverize, as it were, the column 
from which so many Federal endeavors had been forced to re- 
coil, Sherman was expected to pierce the very centre of the 
Confederacy, and seize or destroy every remaining source of 
sustenance. 

The presence in Virginia of the General commanding all the 
Federal forces, was sufficiently indicative of his recognition of 
the supreme object of the campaign. The successful career of 
this officer was the recommendation which secured for him the 
high position of Commander-in-Chief of the armies of the 
Union. He was the most fortunate officer produced by the 
war — fortunate not less in having won nearly every victory 
which could promote the successful conclusion of the war, but 
fortunate in having won victories where defeat was the result 
to be logically expected. 

It is not at all necessary to weigh, in detail, the merits of 
General Grant as a soldier. With the overwhelming argument 
of results in his favor, there would be little encouragement, 
even if there could be strict justice, in denying superior ability 
to Grant. His campaigns have contributed nothing to mili- 
tary science, in its correct sense, and the military student will 
find in his operations few incidents that illustrate the art or 
economy of war. In discarding the formulas of the schools, and 
condemning the theories upon which the best of his predeces- 



544 LIFE OF JEFFERSON DAVIS. 

sors had conducted the war, Grant, by no means, proved that 
he was not a good soldier. But his independence in this re- 
spect did not establish his claim to genius, since his contempt 
for military rules and theories was not followed by the display 
of any original features of true generalship. His name was 
coupled with a great disaster at Shiloh, where he was rescued 
from absolute destruction by the energy of Buell, and the de- 
lay of his adversary. At Donelson, at Vicksburg, and at 
Missionary Ridge, he had succeeded by mere weight of num- 
bers ; and, indeed, in no instance had he exhibited any other 
quality of worth, than boldness and perseverance. But his 
success was a sufficient recommendation to the material mind 
of the N^orth, which did not once pause to consider how far 
Grant's victories were due to his military merit. 

But whatever the defects of Grant in the higher qualities of 
generalship, he was preeminently the man for the present emer- 
gency. If the Federal Government saw the necessity of vigor- 
ous warfare, looking to speedy and final results, General Grant 
knew how to conduct the campaign upon that idea, provided 
the Government would give him unlimited means, and the 
Northern people would consent to the unstinted sacrifice. 
Grant knew no other than an aggressive system of warfare, 
and contemplated no other method of destroying the Confeder- 
acy, than by the momentum of superior weight — by heavy, 
simultaneous and continuous blows. The plans of Grant were 
remarkable for their simplicity, and contemplated merely the 
employment of the maximum of force against the two main 
armies of the Confederacy, keeping the entire force of the South 
in constant and unrelieved strain. By "continuous hammer- 
ing " he thus hoped eventually to destroy or exhaust it. 

General Grant was again fortunate in having the unlimited 



HIS THEORY OF WAR. 545 

confidence of his Government, which placed at his disposal a 
million of soldiers, and was prepared to accede to his every 
demand. To the most trusted of his lieutenants — Sherman — 
Grant intrusted the conduct of operations against the centre 
of the Confederacy, reserving for himself the control of the 
campaign against Richmond, and Lee's army. His plan of 
operation was to destroy, not to defeat, an army which he 
knew could not be conquered, so long as its vitality remained. 
The military talent of the North had been already exhausted 
against Lee, and its largest army too often baffled by the 
Army of Northern Virginia, to admit the hope of defeating 
it in battle. To outgeneral Lee, Grant well knew required a 
greater master of the art of war than himself. To conquer 
the Army of Northern Virginia, he, not less than his army, 
knew to be impossible. His calculation was to wear it out by 
the "attrition" of successive and remorseless blows. This 
theory was based upon the plain calculation that the North 
could furnish a greater mass of humanity for the shambles, 
(as was aftersvard calculated it could spare a greater mass 
for the prisons,) than the South, and that thus w'hen the 
latter should be exhausted, the former would still have left 
abundant material for an army. Such was Grant's theory of 
the war. Whatever may be thought of it as a military con- 
ception, the theory was one that must succeed in the end, 
provided the perseverance of the North should hold out. 

General Grant determined upon a direct advance with the 
Army of the Potomac against Richmond, by the overland 
route from the Rapidan. The frame-work of his plan, how- 
ever, embraced cooperating movements in other quarters, 
which should, at the same time, occupy every man that 
might be available for the reenforcement of Lee. Grant was 
35 



546 LIFE OF JEFFERSON DAVIS. 

embarrassed by no lack of the men who were needed to make 
each one of these movements formidable. The most impor- 
tant of these was that designed to occupy the southern com- 
munications of Richmond, thus at once making the Confed- 
erate capital untenable, and cutting off the retreat of Lee. 
This operation was intrusted to General Butler, who, with 
thirty thousand men, was to ascend ^Jamcs River, establish 
himself in a fortified position near City Point, and invest 
Richmond on its south side. The other auxiUary movements 
were designed against the westward communications of Rich- 
mond, and were to be undertaken by Generals Sigel and 
Crook — the former, with seven thousand men, moving up the 
Shenandoah Valley, and the latter, with ten thousand, moving 
against the Virginia and Tennessee Railroad. The force im- 
mediately under General Grant was one hundred and forty 
thousand men of all arms. Thus the grand aggregate of the 
Federal armies now threatening Richmond reached the neigh- 
borhood of one hundred and ninety thousand men. In addi- 
tion to these was a force at Washington, equal in strength to 
the whole of Lee's army. 

The Federal Government was hardly less lavish in the dis- 
tribution of its enormous resources to Sherman than to Grant. 
Sherman had proven himself an officer of much enterprise. 
Intellectually he was the superior of Grant, but not less than 
other Federal commanders he relied upon superior numbers 
to overcome the skill and valor of the Confederate armies. 
Physical momentum was needed to overwhelm Johnston, and 
was amply supplied. Sherman demanded one hundred thou- 
sand men to capture Atlanta, and, by the consolidation of tlie 
various armies which had hitherto operated independently in the 
West, his force attained within a few hundreds of that number. 



THE CAMPAIGN OPENS. 547 

In painful contrast with this enormous outlay of forces, 
"were the feeble means of the Confederacy. When the season 
favorable for military o[)erations opened, General Lee con- 
fronted Grant upon the Rupidan, and General Johnston faced 
Sherman near Dalton, In Northern Georgia. Neither of these 
armies reached fifty thousand men. The undaunted aspect and 
mien of firm resistance, with which both awaited the perilous 
onset of the enemy, were, however, assuring of the steady de- 
termination which still defended the Confederacy. Critical as 
was the emergency, the Government and the country yet be- 
lieved the strength of these two armies equal to the great test 
of endurance, at least beyond the perils of the present cam- 
paign. To hold its own was the primary hope of the Confed- 
eracy. If autumn could be reached without decisive victories 
by the North, and the great Federal sacrifices of spring and 
summer should then have proven In vain, there was ample 
ground for hope of those dissensions among the enemy, which, 
throughout the struggle, constituted so large a share of Con- 
federate expectation. 

On the 3d of ^lay,' 1864, General Grant Initiated the cam- 
paign in Virginia, by crossing the Rapldan with his advanced 
forces ; on the 5th, the correspondent movement of Sherman, a 
thousand miles away, was begun. By the morning of the 5th, 
one hundred thousand Federal soldiers were across the Rap- 
ldan, and on the same day, the first round of the great wrestle 
occurred. Entertaining no doubt of his capacity to destroy 
Lee, Grant Imagined that his adversary would seek to escape. 
Having, In advance, proclaimed his contempt for " maneuvres," 
he was solicitous only for an opportunity to strike the Con- 
federate army before It should elude his grasp. But Hooker 
had made the same calculation a year before, and was dis- 



548 LIFE OF JEFFERSON DAVIS. 

appointed, and a like disappointment was now in store for 
Grant. 

Lee had no power either to prevent the Federal crossing of 
the Rapidan, nor to prevent the turning of his right. Instead 
of retreating, he immediately assumed the aggressive, and 
dealt the assailant one of the most effective blows ever aimed 
by that powerful arm. Three days sufficed to reveal to the 
Federal commander his miscalculations of his adversary's de- 
signs, and, baffled in all his operations, he already indicated 
distrust of his system of warfare, and was compelled to at- 
tempt by " maneuvre," what he had failed to effect by brute 
force. The events of the 5th and 6th of May clearly demon- 
strated that strategy could not yet be dispensed with in war- 
fare. Indeed, nothing but Lee's extreme weakness and the 
untoward wounding of Longstreet, in just such a crisis, and 
in exactly the same manner as marked the fall of Jackson, 
prevented the defeat of the Federal campaign in its incipiency. 
But for these circumstances the Federal Agamemnon would 
have been completely unhorsed on the 6th of May, and would 
have added another name to the list of decapitated command- 
ers whom Lee had successively brought to grief. But the luck 
of Grant did not forsake him, and he still had numbers suf- 
ficient to attempt the " hammering " process again. Grant's 
first attempt at "maneuvre" was a movement upon Spottsyl- 
vania Court-house, a point south-east of the late battle-fields, 
by which he sought to throw his army between Lee and Rich- 
mond. Again he was to be disappointed, and again did the 
Confederate commander prove himself the master of his antag- 
onist, in every thing that constitutes generalship. The Confed- 
erate forces were already at Spottsylvania, when the Federal 
column reached the neighborhood, and Lee, so cautious in his 



Sheridan's raid, 549 

words, announced to his Government that the enemy had been 
"repulsed with heavy slaughter." 

But Lee had done fur more than foil Grant. He had se- 
cured an impregnable position upon the Spottsylvania heights, 
against which Grant remorselessly, but vainly, dashed his 
huge columns for twelve days. At the end of that period Lee's 
lines were still intact, his mien of resistance still preserved, 
and the "hammering" generalship of Grant had cost the North 
nearly fifty thousand veteran soldiers. Men already began to 
ask the question, to which history will find a ready answer: 
" What would be the result if the resources of the two commanders 
were reversed?" Not even the North could fail to see how 
entirely barren of advantage was all this horrible slaughter. 
The "shambles of the Wilderness" became the popular phrase 
descriptive of Grant's operations, and the Northern public was 
rapidly reaching the conclusion that the " hammer would itself 
break on the anvil." 

While the dead-lock at Spottsylvania continued, and Lee 
held Grant at bay, Richmond was seriously threatened by co- 
operating movements of the enemy. General Grant had, or- 
ganized a powerful cavalry force under Sheridan, for operations 
against the Confederate communications. Sheridan struck out 
boldly in the direction of Richmond, followed closely by the 
Confederate cavalry. For several days he hovered in the 
neighborhood of the city, unable to penetrate the line of 
fortifications, and eventually retired in the direction of James 
River. 

A melancholy incident of this raid of Sheridan was the death, 
in an engagement near Richmond, of General J. E. B. Stuart, 
the renowned cavalry leader of the Army of Northern Virginia. 
This was a severe bereavement to the South, and a serious 



550 LIFE OF JEFFERSON DAVIS. 

loss to the army. Stuart's exploits fill a brilliairt chapter of 
the war in Virginia, and he was probably the ablest cavalry 
chieftain in the Confederate army. President Davis, who was 
constantly on the field during the presence of Sheridan near 
Richmond, deeply deplored the loss of Stuart. The President, 
not less than General Lee, reposed great confidence in Stuart's 
capacity for cavalry command, and the noble character and 
gallant bearing of Stuart enlisted the warm personal regard of 
Mr. Davis — a feeling which was heartily reciprocated. Upon 
the day of his death, Mr. Davis visited the bedside of the dy- 
ing chief, and remained with him some time. In reply to the 
question of Mr. Davis, " General, how do you feel ? " Stuart 
replied : " Easy, but willing to die, if God and my country 
think I have fulfilled my destiny and done my duty." 

The important correspondent movement of Butler upon the 
south side of James River, began early in May. Ascending 
the river with numerous transports, Butler landed at Bermuda 
Hundreds, and advanced against the southern communications 
of Richmond. The force near the city was altogether inade- 
quate to check the army of Butler, and almost without opposi- 
tion he laid hold of the Richmond and Petersburg Railroad, and 
advanced within a few miles of Drewry's Bluff, the fortifica- 
tions of which commanded the passage of the river to the Con- 
federate capital. Troops were rapidly thrown forward from 
the South, and by the 14th May, General Beauregard had 
reached the neighborliood of Richmond, from Charleston. 

Probably at no previous moment of the war was Richmond 
so seriously threatened, as pending the arrival of Beauregard's 
forces. Mr. Davis Nvas, however, resolved to hold the city to 
the last extremity. Though much indisposed at the time, he 
was every morning to be seen, accompanied by his staff, riding 



Beauregard's plan. 551 

in the direction of the military lines. Siipcrintencling, to a 
large extent, the disposition of the small force defending the 
city, he was fully aware of the extreme peril of the situation, 
but nevertheless determined to share the dangers of the hour. 
When Beauregard reached the scene the crisis had by no means 
passed. Unless Butler should be dislodged, not only was Rich- 
mond untenable, but it was impossible to maintain Lee's army 
north of James River. Yet the force available seemed very 
inadequate to any thing like a decisive defeat of the enemy. 
The aggregate of commands from the Carolinas, added to the 
force previously at Richmond, did not exceed fifteen thousand 
men, while Butler, with thirty thousand, held a strongly in- 
trenched position. 

Immediately upon his arrival, General Beauregard suggested 
a plan of operations, by which he hoped to destroy Butler, and, 
without pausing, to inflict a decisive defeat upon Grant. The 
plan he proposed was that Lee should fall back to the defensive 
lines of the Chickahominy, even to the intermediate lines of 
Richmond, temporarily sending fifteen thousand men to the 
south side of the James, and with this accession of force he pro- 
posed to take the offensive against Butler. Pointing out the 
isolated situation of Butler, he urged the opportunity for his 
destruction by the concentration of a superior force. Under 
the circumstances General Beauregard thought the capture of 
Butler's force inevitable, and the occupation of iiis depot of 
supplies at Bermuda Hundreds a necessary consequence. When 
these results should be accomplished, he proposed, at a con- 
certed moment, to throw his whole force upon Grant's flank, 
while Lee attacked in front. General Beauregard was confi- 
dent of his ability to make the attack upon Butler, in two days 
after receiving the desired reenforcements, and was equally con- 



552 LIFE OF JEFFEESOX DAVIS. 

fident of the result both against Butler and Grant. His prop- 
osition concluded with the declaration that Grant's fate could 
not be doubtful if the proposed concentration should be made, 
and indicated the following gratifying results: "The destruc- 
tion of Grant's forces would open the way for the recovery of 
most of our lost territory." 

Whatever his views as to its feasibility, the President could 
not refuse a careful consideration of a plan, whose author, in 
advance, claimed such momentous results. Upon reflection 
President Davis declined the plan as involving too great a 
risk, not only of the safety of Richmond, but of the very exist- 
ence of Lee's army. The proposition of Beauregard was sub- 
mitted on the 14th ISIay. At that time the grapple between 
Grant and Lee was still unrelaxed. Twelve days of battle had 
cost Lee fifteen thousand men. Meanwhile he had not received 
a single additional mushd, while Grant had nearly supplied his 
losses by reenforcements from Washington. Thus, while Lee's 
force did not reach forty thousand. Grant's still approximated 
one hundred and thirty thousand. The President also knew 
that Grant was at that moment closely pressing Lee, moving 
toward his left, and seeking either to overlap or break in upon 
the right flank of Lee. 

The proposed detachment of fifteen thousand men from Lee, 
leaving him not more than twenty-five thousand, in such a 
crisis, would have been simply madness. Butler, it is possible, 
might have been destroyed, but the end of the Confederacy 
would have been hastened twelve months. It is questionable 
whether, at any moment after Grant crossed the Rapidan, the 
overmatched army of Lee could have been diminished without 
fatal disaster. The timely arrival of Longstreet had prevented 
a serious reverse on the 6th May. Is it reasonable to su^jpose 



MR. DA vis' views. 553 

that Lee could have detached one-third of his army, without 
Grant's knowledge, or that the energy of the Federal com- 
mander would have permitted an hour's respite to his sorely- 
pressed adversary after the discovery? The case would have 
been altogether different, had Lee been already safe within his 
works at Richmond. Under the circumstances proposed, he 
had before him a perilous retrograde, followed by a force four 
times his own strength, and commanded by the most unrelent- 
ing and persistent of officers. 

But there was another view of the proposition not to be 
overlooked by the President in his perilous responsibility. It 
is true Beauregard promised grand results — nothing less than 
the total destruction of nearly all the Federal forces in Vir- 
ginia. In brief, his plan proposed to destroy two hundred 
thousand men with less than sixty thousand. Again it was 
true the enemy was to be destroyed in detail — Butler first, 
and Grant afterwards. There were precedents in history for 
such achievements. But it should be remembered that if But- 
ler should be immediately destroyed, and if Lee should be 
guaranteed a safe retrograde, Beauregard would still be able 
to aid Lee to the extent of but little more than twenty thou- 
sand men. This would give Lee less than fifty thousand with 
which to take the offensive against more than twice that num- 
ber. Against just such odds Lee had already tried the offen- 
sive, and failed because of his weakness. He had assailed 
Grant under the most favorable circumstances, effecting a 
complete surprise when the Federal commander believed him 
already retreating, but was unable to follow up his advantage. 
Was there reason to believe that any better result would follow 
from a repetition of the off'ensive? 

Believing himself not justified in hazarding the safety of 



554 LIFE OF JEFFERSON DAVIS. 

the Confederacy upon such a train of doubtful conditions, and 
asreeino: with General Beauregard, that Butler could be dis- 
lodged from his advanced positions, so menacing to Kichmond, 
Mr, Davis rejected a plan which, under different circumstances, 
he would have heartily and confidently adopted. 

With remarkable promptitude, Beauregard conceived a bril- 
liant plan of battle, and within twenty-four hours had already 
put it in virtual execution. With fifteen thousand men, he 
drove Butler from all his advanced works, and confined him 
securely in the cul de sac of Bermuda Hundreds, where, in a 
few months, ended the inglorious military career of a man 
who, in every possible manner, dishonored the sword M^iich 
he wore, and disgraced the Government which he served. The 
brilliant conception of Beauregard merited even better results, 
which were prevented not less by untoward circumstances than 
by the weakness of his command. 

While Beauregard thus effectually neutralized Butler, Grant's 
combinations, elsewhere, were brought to signal discomfiture. 
The expedition from the Kanawha Valley had been, in a meas- 
ure, successful in its designs against the communications of 
South-western Virginia, but did not obtain the cooperation de- 
signed, by the column moving up the Shenandoah Valley. Si- 
gel, in his advance up the Valley, was encountered at New- 
market by General Breckinridge, who signally defeated him, 
capturing artillery and stores, and inflicting a heavy loss upon 
the enemy. Sigel retreated hastily down the Valley. 

General Grant, on the 11th of ^lay, proclaimed to his Gov- 
ernment his purpose " to fight it out on this line if it takes 
all summer," yet, within a week afterwards, he was already 
meditating another plan of operations. Forty thousand of the 
bravest soldiers of the Federal army had been vainly sacrificed, 



geant's failures. 555 

and yet the Confederate line remained intact upon the impreg- 
nable hills of Spottsylvania. A week was consumed in fruitless 
search for a weak point in the breastplate of Lee. Grant was 
again driven to " maneuvre." Foiled again and again by the 
great exemplar of* strategy, with whom he contended, Grant at 
no point turned his face towards Richmond without finding Lee 
across his path. Moving constantly to the left, the 3d of June 
— exactly one month from the crossing of the Rapidan — found 
Grant near the Chickahominy, and Lee still facing him. The 
fortune of war again brought the belligerents upon the old 
battle-ground of the Peninsula. Just before Lee reached the 
defenses of Richmond, for the first time during the campaign, 
he received reenforcements.* Grant also was strengthened, draw- 
ing sixteen thousand men from Butler at Bermuda Hundreds. 
On the 3d of June occurred the second battle of Cold Har- 
bor. It was the last experiment of the strictly "hammering" 
system, unaided by the resources of strategy. It cost Grant 
thirteen thousand men, and Lee a few hundred. Such was 
a fitting finale of a campaign avowedly undertaken upon the 
brutal principle of the mere consumption of life, and in con- 
tempt of every sound military precept. Cold Harbor termi- 
nated the overland movement of Grant, and he speedily aban- 
doned the line upon which he had proposed " to fight all 
summer." Not that he willingly abandoned his "hammering" 
principle after this additional sacrifice of lives, for he would 
still have dashed his army against the impregnable wall in 

* At Hanover Junction, on the 23d of IMay, General Lee was joined by 
Breckinridge's division, numbering less than three thousand muskets, and 
by Pickett's division of perhaps three thousand five hundred muskets. 
General Lee was compelled, very shortly afterwards, to send Breckin- 
ridge's division back to the Valley. 



656 LIFE OF JliJFFERSON DAVIS. 

his front, but his men recoiled, in the consciousness of an 
impotent endeavor. They had done all that troops could ac- 
complish, and shrank from that which their own experience 
told them was impossible. And there should be no wonder 
that the Federal army was reluctant to be vdinly led to slaugh- 
ter again. For forty days its proven mettle had been subjected 
to a cruel test, such as even Napoleon, reckless of his men's 
lives as he was, had never imposed upon an army. It is safe to 
say that no troops but Americans could have been held so long 
to such an enterprise as that attempted by Grant in May, 1864, 
and none but Americans could have withstood such desperate 
assaults as were sustained by Lee's army. 

In one month, from the Rapidan to the Chickahominy, 
more than sixty thousand of the flower of the Federal army 
had been put hors du combat, and many of the best of its 
officers, men identified with its whole history, M^ere lost for- 
ever. In one month Lee had inflicted a loss greater than the 
whole of the force which he commanded during the last year 
of the war ! Yet this was the " generalship " of Grant, for 
which a meeting of twenty-five thousand men in New York 
returned the " thanks of the nation." The world was invited, 
by the sensational press of the North, to admire the " strategy " 
which had carried the Federal army from the Rapidan to the 
James, a position which it might have reached by transports 
without the loss of a man. 

For a brief season, hope, positive and well-defined, dawned 
upon the South. Thus far the problem of endurance was in 
favor of the Confederacy. Grant's stupendous combinations 
against Richmond had broken down. The spirit of the North 
seemed to be yielding, and again the Federal Government en- 
countered the danger of a collapse of the war. 



GRANT CROSSES THE JAMES. 557 

The battle of Cold Harbor convinced General Grant of the 
futility of operations against Richmond from the north side of 
James River. He therefore determined to transfer liis army 
to the south side of the river, and seek to possess himself of 
the communications southward, and to employ cooperative 
forces to destroy or occupy the communications of Richmond 
with Lynchburg and the Shenandoah Valley. This involved 
new combinations, and Grant still had abundant means to 
execute them. If successful, this plan would completely 
isolate Richmond, leaving no avenue of supplies except by 
the James River Canal, which also would be easily access- 
ible. 

Lee could not prevent the transfer of Grant's army to the 
south side. Petersburg and Richmond were both to be de- 
fended, and his strength was too limited to be divided. Grant 
made a vigorous dash against Petersburg. He had anticipated 
an easy capture of that city by a coup de main, but in this he 
was disappointed. Petersburg was found to be well fortified, 
and the desperate assaults made by the Federal advanced forces 
were repulsed. In a few days Lee's army again confronted 
Grant, and Richmond and Petersburg were safe. 

Thus the system of rushing men upon fortifications failed 
on the south side not less signally than in the overland cam- 
paign. The Federal commander had no alternative but a 
formal siege of Petersburg. Driven by circumstances beyond 
his control, General Grant thus assumed a position which, in 
the end, proved fatal to the Confederacy, and the results of 
M-hich hi^ve exalted him, in the view of millions, to rank 
among the illustrious generals of history. The south side of 
James River was always the real key to the possession of 
Richmond. Sooner or later the Confederate capital must fall, 



558 LIFE OF JEFFERSON DAVIS. 

if assailed from that direction with pertinacity, and with such 
ample means as were given to Grant. 

The new Federal combination was in process of execution 
by the middle of June. After the defeat of Sigel, a large 
force was organized in the lower valley, and intrusted to the 
direction of General Hunter, an officer distinguished by fanat- 
ical zeal against the section of which he was a native, and by 
the peculiar cruelty of a renegade. Breckinridge had been 
withdrawn from the Valley, to Lee's lines, immediately after 
his defeat of Sigel, and Hunter without difficulty overwhelmed 
the small force left under General Jones. Forming a junction 
with Crook and Averill from North-western Virginia, at 
Staunton, Hunter advanced upon Lynchburg, meanwhile 
destroying public and private property indiscriminately, and 
practicing a system of incendiarism and petty oppression 
against which even Federal officers protested. 

It was necessary to detach a portion of the army from the 
lines of Richmond to check the demonstration of Hunter. 
Accordingly, General Early, who had acquired great reputa- 
tion in the battles upon the E,apidan, was sent with eight 
thousand men to the Valley, Uniting his forces to those 
already on the ground. General E-.irly made a vigorous pursuit 
of Hunter, whose flight was as dastardly as his conduct had 
been despicable. Retreating with great precipitation through 
the mountains of Western Virginia, Hunter's force, for several 
weeks, bore no relation to operations in Virginia. With the 
Shenandoah Valley thus denuded of invaders. Early rapidly 
executed a movement of his forces down the Valley^ with a 
view to a demonstration beyond the Potomac frontier, which 
was entirely uncovered by Hunter's retreat. The movement 
of Early into Maryland caused, as was anticipated, a detach- 



grant's campaign a failuPwE. 659 

ment from Grant's forces, for the defense of tlie Federal 
capital. Advancing with extraordinary vigor, General Early 
pursued the retreating enemy, defeating them in an engage- 
ment near Frederick City, and arrived near AVashington on 
the 10th of July. "Warned of the approach of heavy reenforce- 
ments from Grant, which must arrive before the works could 
be carried, Early abandoned his design of an attack upon 
"Washington, and retired across the Potomac, with his exten- 
sive and valuable captures. 

Signal failure attended the cavalry expeditions sent by Grant 
against the railroads. Sheridan, while moving northward 
against Gordonsville and Charlottesville, from which points, 
after inflicting all possible damage upon the railroads to Rich- 
mond, he was to join Hunter at Lynchburg, was intercepted 
by Wade Hampton, the worthy successor of Stuart, and com- 
pelled to abandon his part of the campaign. An extended 
raid, under "Wilson and Kautz, on the south side, also ter- 
minated in disaster. The expedition of Burbridge against 
South-western Virginia was baffled by a counter-movement 
of ISIorgan with his cavalry, into Kentucky, the Federal forces 
following him into that State. 

Thus again were all of General Grant's plans disappointed, 
and by midsummer the situation in "Virginia was altogether 
favorable to the Confederacy. There was indeed good reason 
for the evident apprehension of the Xorth, that, after all, 
Grant's mighty campaign was a failure. His mere proximity 
to the Confederate capital signified nothing. All his attempts 
against both Petersburg and Richmond, whether by strategy 
or coups de main, had ended in disaster; the Confederate lines 
were pronounced impregnable by the ablest Federal engineers, 
and after the ridiculous fiasco of " Burnside's mine," the cap- 



660 LIFE OF JEFFERSON DAVIS. 

ture of Richmond seemed as remote as ever. To increase 
public alarm at the North, was added the activity of Lee, Jiis 
evident confidence in his ability to hold his own, with a di- 
minished force, and even to threaten the enemy with invasion. 

The Confederate Government, fully apprized of the mo- 
mentous results, with which the present year was pregnant, 
and of the increased peril which assailed the Confederacy, in 
consequence of its diminished resources, depended upon other 
influences, than an exhibition of military strength, to promote 
its designs. The cause of the South could no longer be sub- 
mitted, unaided, to the arbitrament of battle. At other peri- 
ods, while freely avowing his desire for peace, and offering 
to the Federal authorities, opportunity for negotiation, Presi- 
dent Davis had relied almost solely upon the sword, as the 
agency of Southern independence. The opening of the spring 
campaign of 1864 was deemed a favorable conjuncture for the 
employment of the resources of diplomacy. To approach the 
Federal Government directly would be in vain. Repeated ef- 
forts had already demonstrated its inflexible purpose not to 
negotiate with the Confederate authorities. Political develop- 
ments at the North, however, favored the adoption of some 
action that might influence popular sentiment in the hostile 
section. The aspect of the peace party was especially encour- 
aging, and it was evident that the real issue to be decided in 
the Presidential election, was the continuance or cessation of 
the war. 

A commission of three gentlemen, eminent in position and 
intelligence, was accordingly appointed by Mr. Davis to visit 
Canada, with a view to negotiation with such persons in the 
North, as might be relied upon, to facilitate the attainment 
of peace. This commission was designed to facilitate such 



ATTEMl'S AT NEGOTIATION. 561 

preliminary conditions, as might lead to formal negotiation 
between the two governments, and their intelligence was fully 
relied upon to make judicious use of any political opportuni- 
ti^es that might be presented in the progress of military opera- 
tions 

The Confederate commissioners, Messrs. -Clay, of Alabama, 
Holcombe, of Virginia, and Thompson, of Mississippi, sailed 
from Wilmington at the incipiency of the campaign on the 
Rapidan. Within a few weeks thereafter they were upon the 
Canada frontier, in the execution of their mission. A cor- 
respondence with Horace Greeley commenced on the 12th of 
July. Through Mr. Greeley the commissioners sought a safe 
conduct to the Federal capital. For a few days Mr. Lincoln 
appeared to favor an interview with the commissioners, but 
finally rejected their application, on the ground that they 
were not authorized to treat for peace. In his final communi- 
cation, addressed "To whom it may concern," Mr. Lincoln 
ofiered safe conduct to any person or persons having authority 
to control the armies then at war with the United States, and 
authorized to treat upon the following basis of negotiation : 
" the restoration of peace, the integrity of the whole Union, and 
the abandonment of slavery.'^ 

Upon this basis, negotiation was, of course, precluded, and 
peace impossible. Mr. Lincoln was perfectly aware that the 
commissioners had no control of the Confederate armies, and 
that the Confederate Government alone was empowered to 
negotiate. He therefore did not expect the acceptance of his 
passport, and added to the mockery an arrogant statement, in 
advance, of the conditions upon which he would consent to 
treat. Even if the commissioners had been empowered to 
treat, Mr, Lincoln's terms dictated the surrender of every 
.36 



562 LIFE OF JEFFERSON DAA'IS. 

thing for which the South was fighting, and more than the 
North professed to demand at the outset. Abolition was now 
added to the conditions of re-admission to the Union. Mr. 
Lincoln's proposition was a cruel mockery, an unworthy insult 
to the manhood of a people, whom his armies, at least, had 
learned to respect. 



GENERAL JOHNSTON. 5G3 



CHAPTER XIX. 

DISAPPOINTMENT AT RESULTS OF THE GEORGIA CAMPAIGN — HOW PAR IT WAS 
PARALLEL WITH THE VIRGINIA CAMPAIGN — DIFFERENT TACTICS ON BOTH 
SIDES — REMOVAL OF GENERAL JOHNSTON — THE EXPLANATION OF THAT 
STEP — A QUESTION FOR MILITARY JUDGMENT — THE NEGATIVE VINDICATION 
OF GENERAL JOHNSTON — DIFFERENT THEORIES OF WAR — THE REAL PHILOS- 
OPHY OF THE SOUTHERN FAILURE — THE ODDS IN NUMBERS AND RESOURCES 
AGAINST THE SOUTH — WATER FACILITIES OP THE ENEMY — STRATEGIC DIFFI- 
CULTIES OF THE SOUTH — THE BLOCKADE — INSIGNIFICANCE OF MINOR QUES- 
TIONS — JEFFERSON DAVIS THE WASHINGTON OF THE SOUTH GENERAL JOHN 

B. HOOD — HIS DISTINGUISHED CAREER — HOPE OF THE SOUTH RENEWED — 

hood's OPERATIONS — LOSS OF ATLANTA — IMPORTANT QUESTIONS PRESIDENT 

DAVIS IN GEORGIA — PERVERSE CONDUCT OF GOVERNOR BROWN — MR. DAVIS 
IN MACON — AT HOOD's HEAD-QUARTERS — HOW HOOd's TENNESSEE CAMPAIGN 
VARIED FROM MR. DAVIs' INTENTIONS — SHERMAN's PROMPT AND BOLD CON- 
DUCT — hood's MAGNANIMOUS ACKNOWLEDGMENT — DESTRUCTION OF THE CON- 
FEDERATE POWER IN THE SOUTH-WEST. 

/^ ENERAL JOHNSTON had failed to realize either the 
^^ expectations of the public, or the hope of the Govern- 
ment, in his direction of the campaign in Georgia. His tac- 
tics were those uniformly illustrated by this officer in all his 
operations, of falling back before the enemy, and seeking to 
obviate the disadvantage of inferior numbers by partial en- 
gagements in positions favorable to himself There was, in- 
deed, some parallel between his campaign and that of Lee, 
between the Rapidan and James, but the results in Virginia 
and Georgia were altogether disproportionate. The advance 
of Sherman was slow and cautious, but nevertheless steady; 



564 LIFE OF JEFFERSON DAVIS. 

and when the campaign had lasted seventy days, he was be- 
fore Atlanta, the objective point of his designs, and in secure 
occupation of an extensive and important section of country, 
heretofore inaccessible to the Federal armies. Not only were 
Sherman's losses small, as compared with those of Grant, but 
his force was relatively much weaker. 

There can be no just comparison of these two campaigns, 
either as illustrating the same system of tactics, or as yielding 
the same results. The aggregate of Federal forces in Georgia 
did not exceed, at the beginning of the campaign, one hun- 
dred thousand men, if indeed it reached that figure. To 
oppose this, Johnston had forty-five thousand. We have al- 
ready stated the aggregate of Federal forces in Virginia to 
have been at least four times the force that, under any cir- 
cumstances, Lee could have made available. The public did 
not interpret as retreats, the parallel movements by which Lee 
successively threw himself in the front of Grant, wherever the 
latter made a demonstration. Not once had Lee turned his 
back upon the enemy, nor abandoned a position, save when 
the baffled foe, after enormous losses, sought a new field of 
operations. At its conclusion, Grant had sustained losses in 
excess of the whole of Lee's army, abandoned altogether his 
original design, and sought a base of operations, which he 
might have reached in the beginning, not only without loss, 
but without even opposition. 

Some explanation of the widely disproportionate results 
achieved in Virginia and Georgia, is to be found in the dif- 
ferent tactics of the Federal commanders. Sherman, whose 
nature is thoroughly aggressive, yet developed great skill and 
caution. Instead of fruitlessly dashing his army against for- 
tifications, upon ground of the enemy's choosing, he treated 



JOHNSTON CENSURED. 565 

the positions of Johnston as fortresses, from which his antag- 
onist was to be flanked. 

But while this explanation was appreciated, the public was 
much disposed to accept the two camjjaigns as illustrations of 
the different systems of tactics accredited to the two Confed- 
erate commanders. It was seen that in Virginia the enemy 
occupied no new territory, and, at the end of three months, 
was upon ground which he might easily have occupied at 
the beginning of the campaign, but to reach which, by the 
means selected, had cost him nearly eighty thousand men.* 
In Georgia, on the other hand, Sherman had advanced one 
hundred miles upon soil heretofore firmly held by the Con- 
federacy, and without a general engagement of the oppos- 
ing forces. In Virginia, the enemy had no difficulty as to 
his transportation, and the farther Grant advanced towards 
James River, the more secure and abundant became his means 
of supply. In Georgia, Sherman drew his supplies over miles 
of hostile territory, and was nowhere aided by the proximity 
of navigable streams. 

When in a censorious mood, the popular mind is not over- 
careful of the aptness of the parallels and analogies, wherewith 
to justify its carping judgments. Without denying his skill, 
or questioning his possession of the higher qualities of gener- 
alship, people complained that " Johnston was a retreating 
general." Whatever judgment may have arisen from subse- 
quent events, it can not be fairly denied that when Johnston 

* This estimate includes Grant's losses in his assaults upon the fortifi- 
cations of Petersburg, immediately after his passage of the James River 
I have seen his total losses from the Rapidan, until the siege of Peters- 
burg was regularly begun, estimated by Northern writers, at over ninety 
thousand. 



566 LIFE OF JEFFERSON DAVIS. 

reached Atlanta, there was a very perceptible loss of popular 
confidence, not less in the issue of the campaign than in Gen- 
eral Johnston himself. It was in deference to popular senti- 
ment, as much as in accordance with his views of the necessity 
of the military situation, that President Davis, about the 
middle of July, relieved General Johnston from command. 
Sympathizing largely with the popular aspiration for a more 
bold, ample, and comprehensive policy, and appreciating the 
value of unlimited public confidence, Mr. Davis had lost much 
of his hope of those decisive results, which he believed the 
Western army competent to achieve. 

The dispatch relieving General Johnston was as follows : 

"Richmond, Va., July 17, 1864. 

'To General J. E. Johnston: 

" Lieutenaut-General J. B. Hood has been commissioned to the 
temporary rank of General, under the law of Congress. I am 
directed by the Secretary of War to inform you, that as you have 
failed to arrest the advance of the enemy to the vicinity of At- 
lanta, and express no confidence that you can defeat or repel him, 
you are hereby relieved from the command of the Army and De- 
partment of Tennessee, which you will immediately turn over to 

General Hood. 

"S. COOPER, 

"Adjutant and Inspector-General." 

This order sufficiently explains the immediate motive of 
Johnston's removal, but there was a train of circumstances 
which, at length, brought the President reluctantly to this 
conclusion. The progress of events in Georgia, from the be- 
ginning of spring, had developed a marked difference in the 
views of General Johnston and the President. Early in the 
year "Mv. Davis had warmly approved an offensive campaign 



THE GEORGIA CAMPAIGN. 567 

against the Federal army, while its various wings were not 
yet united. The Federal force, then in the neighborhood of 
Dalton, did not greatly exceed the Confederate strength, and 
Mr. Davis, foreseeing the concentration of forces for the cap- 
ture of Atlanta, believed the opportunity for a decisive stroke 
to exist before this concentration should ensue. General Hood 
likewise favored this view of the situation. He urged that 
the enemy would certainly concentrate forces to such an ex- 
tent, if permitted, as would gradually force the Southern army 
back into the interior, where a defeat would be irreparable, 
with no new defensive line, and without the hope of rallying 
either the army or the people. General Johnston opposed 
these views, on the ground that the enemy, if defeated, had 
strong positions where they could take refuge, while a defeat 
of the Confederate force would be fatal. This diiference of 
opinion is to be appropriately decided only by military criti- 
cism, but it can not be fairly adjudged that an offensive in 
the spring would not have succeeded, because it failed in the 
following autumn. Circumstances were altogether different. 

General Johnston's operations between Dalton and Atlanta 
were unsatisfactory to Mr, Davis. Here again arises a mili- 
tary question, which we shall not seek to decide, in the evi- 
dent difference as to the capacity of the Army of Tennessee, 
for any other than purely defensive operations. It was, in- 
deed, not so much an opposition on the part of the President, 
to Johnston's operations, as the apprehension of a want of 
ultimate aim in his movements. "Whatever the plans of Gen- 
eral Johnston may have been, they were not communicated to 
Mr. Davis, at least in such a shape as to indicate the hope of 
early and decisive execution. Alarmed for the results of a 
policy having seemingly the characteristics of drifting, of wait- 



568 LIFE OF JEFFERSON DAVIS. 

ing upon events, and of hoping for, instead of creating oppor- 
tunity, Mr. Davis yet felt the necessity of giving General 
Johnston an ample trial. During all this period strong influ- 
ences were brought to bear against Johnston, and upon the 
other hand, he was warmly sustained by influences friendly 
both to himself and the President. 

For weeks the President was importuned by these conflict- 
ing counsels, the natural effect of which was to aggravate his 
grave doubts as to the existence of any matured ultimate ob- 
ject in General Johnston's movements. Upon one occasion, 
while still anxiously deliberating the subject, an eminent poli- 
tician, a thorough patriot, a supporter of Mr. Davis, and 
having to an unlimited extent his confidence, called at the 
office of the President, with a view to explain the situation 
in Georgia, whence he had just arrived. This gentleman had 
been with the army, knew its condition, its enthusiasm and 
confidence. He was confident that General Johnston would 
destroy Sherman, and did not believe that the Federal army 
would ever be permitted to reach even the neighborhood of 
Atlanta. Mr. Davis, having quietly heard this explanation, 
replied by handing to his visitor a dispatch just received from 
Johnston, and dated at Atlanta. The army had already 
reached Atlanta, before the gentleman could reach Richmond, 
and he acknowledged himself equally amazed and disap- 
pointed. 

Despite his doubts and apprehensions, however, Mr. Davis 
resisted the applications of members of Congress and leading 
politicians from the section in which General Johnston was 
operating, for a change of commanders, until he felt himself 
no longer justified in hazarding the loss of Atlanta without a 
struggle. There appeared little ground for the belief that 



JOHNSTON RELIEVED. 5G9 

Johnston would hold Atlanta, nor did there appear any reason 
why his arrival there should occasion a dej^arture from his 
previous retrograde policy. Of the purpose of General John- 
ston to evacuate Atlanta the President felt that he had abun- 
dant evidence. Not until he felt fully satisfied upon this 
point, was the removal of that officer determined upon. In- 
deed, .the order removing Johnston sets forth as its justifica- 
tion, that he had expressed no confidence in his ability to 
" repel the enemy." If Atlanta should be surrendered, where 
would General Johnston expect to give battle?* 

Subsequently to his removal, General Johnston avowed that 
his purpose was to hold Atlanta; and, therefore, we are not at 
liberty to question his purpose. But this does not alter the 

*Pi-esident Davis regarded the security of Atlanta as an object of the 
utmost consequence, for which, if necessary, even great hazards must be 
run. His frequent declaration was that the Confederacy '■'■had no vital 
points." This theory was correct, as there was certainly no one point, 
the loss of which necessarily involved the loss of the cause. Yet it was . 
obvious in the beginning that certain sections, either for strategic reasons, 
or as sources of supply, were of vast importance for the prosecution of 
the war to a speedy and successful conclusion. The value of Richmond 
and Virginia was obvious. Equally important was a secure foothold in the 
Mississippi Valley, and the possession of the great mountainous range 
from Chattanooga to Lynchburg, the "backbone region" of the South. 
Mr. Davis regarded each one of these three objects as justifying almost 
any hazard or sacrifice. Under no circumstances could he approve a 
military policy which contemplated the surrender of either of these ob- 
jects, without a desperate struggle. He had wanted Vicksburg defended 
to the last extremity, and now desired equal tenacity as to Atlanta. This 
city was a great manufacturing centre ; the centre of the system of rail- 
roads diverging in all directions through the Gulf States, and it was the 
last remaining outpost in the defense of the central section of the Con- 
federacy. 



570 LIFE OF JEFFERSON DAVIS. 

legitimate inference drawn by Mr. Davis at the time of his 
removal. Can it be believed that the President would have 
taken that step, if satisfied of Johnston's purpose to deliver 
battle for Atlanta? 

This entire subject belongs appropriately only to military 
discussion, and no decision from other sources can possibly 
affect the ultimate sentence of that tribunal. Yet the most se- 
rious disparagement of Mr. Davis, by civilian writers, has been 
based upon the removal of Johnston from the command of the 
Western army. Granting that General Johnston would have 
sought to hold Atlanta, can it be believed that the ultimate 
result would have been different? When Sherman invested 
Atlanta, the North found some compensation for Grant's fail- 
ures in Virginia; and even though his force should have been 
inadequate for a siege, can it now be doubted that he would 
have been reenforced to any needed extent? The mere pres- 
ence of Sherman at Atlanta was justly viewed by the North as 
an important success. He had followed his antagonist to the 
very heart of the Confederacy, and was master of innumerable 
strong positions held by the Confederates at the outset of the 
campaign. To suppose that he would, at such a moment, be 
permitted to fail from a lack of means, is a hypothesis at va- 
riance with the conduct of the North throughout the war. 

General Johnston has that sort of negative vindication which 
arises from the disasters of his successor, though, as we shall 
presently show, Mr. Davis was nowise responsible for the mis- 
fortunes of General Hood.* The question is one which must 

* Yet the argument that General Hood's errors establish the wisdom of 
General Johnston's policy, can hardly be deemed fair by an intelligent and 
impartial judgment. A more competent commander than Hood might 
have more ably executed an offensive campaign, even after the fall of 



ANTAGONISTIC THEORIES. 571 

some day arise as between the general military policy of the 
Confederacy, and the antagonistic views which have been so 
freely ascribed to General Johnston by his admirers. We have 
no desire to pursue that antagonism, which, if it really existed, 
can hardly yet be a theme for impartial discussion. Towards 
the close of the war, it was usual to accredit Johnston with the 
theory that the Confederacy could better aiford to fo.se territory 
than men, and that hence the true policy of the South was to 
avoid general engagements, unless under such circumstances as 
should totally neutralize the enemy's advantage in numbers. 
We are not prepared to say to what extent these announcements 
of his views were authorized by General Johnston, or to what 
extent they were based upon retrospection. Some confirmation 
of their authenticity would seem to be deducible from General 
Johnston's declaration since the war, that the "Confederacy 
was too weak for offensive war." Certainly there could be no 
theory more utterly antagonistic to the genius of the Southern 
people, and that is a consideration, to which the great com- 
manders of history have not usually been indifferent. Nor was 
it the theory which inspired those achievements of Southern 
valor, which will ring through the centuries. It was not the 

Atlanta; or, again, other tactics than those of Johnston, from Dalton to 
Atlanta, might have had better results. 

After Johnston's removal, the President received numerous letters from 
prominent individuals in the Cotton States, heartily applauding that step. 
The condemnation of the President, for the removal of Johnston, came 
only after Hood's disasters; and it must be remembered that Hood's later 
operations were not in accordance with Mr. Davis' views. 

The writer remembers a pithy summary of the Georgia campaign, made 
by a Confederate officer, shortly before the end of the war. Said he: 
"While Johnston was in command there were no results at all; when 
Hood took command, results came very rapidly." 



572 LIFE OF JEFFERSON DAVIS. 

theory which Lee and Jackson adopted, nor, we need hard!/ 
add, that which Jefferson Davis approved. 

Indeed, the philosophy of the Southern faihire is not to be 
sought in the discussion of opposing theories among Confeder- 
ate leaders. The conclusion of history will be, not that the 
South accomplished less than was to be anticipated, but far 
more than have any other people under similar circumstances. 
Southern men hardly yet comprehend the real odds in numbers 
and resources which for four years they successfully resisted. 
Other questions than those merely of aggregate populations and 
material wealth, enter into the solution of the problem. 

By the census of 1860, the aggregate fi-ee population of the 
thirteen States, which the Confederacy claimed, was 7,500,000, 
leaving in the remaining States of the Union a free population 
of over twenty millions. This statement includes Kentucky 
and Missouri as members of the Confederacy ; yet, by the com- 
pulsion of Federal bayonets, these States, not less than Mary- 
land and Delaware, were virtually on the side of the North. 
Kentucky proclaimed neutrality, but during the whole war was 
overrun by the Federal armies, and, with her State govern- 
ment and large numbers of her people favoring the North, 
despite the Southern sympathies of the majority, her moral in- 
fluence, as well as her physical strength, sustained the Union. 
The legitimate government of Missouri, and a majority of her 
people, sided with the South ; but early occupied and held by 
the Federal army, her legitimate government was subverted, 
and her moral and physical resources were thrown into the 
scale against the Confederacy. 

To say nothing of the large numbers of recruits obtained by 
the Federal armies from Kentucky, Maryland and Missouri, 
(chiefly from their large foreign populations,) their contributions' 



THE NUMERICAL DISPARITY. 573 

to the Confederate army were nearly, if not quite, compensa- 
ted by the accessions to Federal strength from East Tennessee, 
Western Virginia, and other portions of the seceded States. It 
would be fair, therefore, to deduct the jjopulation of these two 
States from that of the South, and this would leave the Con- 
federacy five and one-half millions. Dividing their free popu- 
lations between the two sections, and the odds were six and a 
half millions against twenty and a half millions. This is a lib- 
eral statement for the North, and embraces only the original 
populations of the two sections at the beginning of hostilities. 
There can hardly be a reasonable doubt, that had the struggle 
been confined to these numerical forces, the South would have 
triumphed. But hordes of foreign mercenaries, incited by high 
bounty and the promise of booty, flocked to the Federal army, 
and thus was the North enabled to recruit its armies to any 
needed standard, while the South depended solely upon its orig- 
inal population. As the South was overrun, too, negroes were 
forced or enticed into the Federal service, and thus, by these 
inexhaustible reserves of foreign mercenaries and negro re- 
cruits, the Confederate army was finally exhausted. 

The following exhibition of the strength of the Federal 
armies is from the report of the Secretary of War, at the be- 
ginning of the session of Congress in December, 1865 : 

Official reports show that oa the 1st of May, ISGl, the aggre- 
gate national military force of all arms, officers and men, was nine 
hundred and seventy thousand seven hundred and ten, to-wit : 

Available force present for duty 662,345 

Ou detached service in (he different military departments 10!i,o48 

In field hospitals or unfit for duty 41,2()6 

In general hospitals or on side leave at home 75,978 

Absent on furlough or as prisoners of war ()6,2!)0 

Absent without leave 15,183 

Grand aggregate 970,710 



574 LIFE OF JEFFERSON DAVIS. 

The aggregate available force present for duty May 1st, 1864, 
was distributed in the diflPerent commands as follows : 



Department of Washington 42,124 

Army of the Potomac 120,386 

Department of Virginia and North Carolina 59,139 

Department of the South 18,165 

Department of the Gulf 61,866 

Department of Arkansas 23,666 

Department of the Tennessee 74,174 

Department of the Missouri 15,770 

Department of the North-west 5,295 

Department of Kansas 4,798 

Head-quarters Militarj' Division of tlie Mississippi 476 

Department of the Cumberland 119,948 

Department of the Ohio 35,416 

Northern Department 9,540 

Department of West Virginia 30,782 

Department of the East 2,828 

Department of the Susquehanna 2,970 

Middle Department 5,627 

Ninth Army Corps 20,780 

Department of New Mexico 3,454 

Department of the Pacific 5,141 

Total 662,345 

And again : 

Official reports show that on the 1st of March, 18G5, the aggre- 
gate military force of all arms, officers and men, was nine hundred 
and sixty-five thousand five hundred and ninety-one, to-wit : 

Available forces present for duty 602,598 

On detached service in the diflferent military departments lo2,5;iS 

In field hospitals and unfit for duty 35,628 

In general hospitals or on sick leave 143,-119 

Absent on furlough or as prisoners of war 31,6!t5 

Absent without leave 19,683 

Grand aggregate 965,591 

This force was augmented on the 1st of May, 1865, by enlist- 
ments, to the number of one million five hundred and sixteen, of 
all arms, officers and men (1,000,516). 



And again he says ; 



THE NUMERICAL DISPARITY. 575 

The aggregate quotas charged against the several States under all 
calls made by the President of the United States, from the loth 
day of April, 1861, to the 1-ltli day of April, 1SC5, at which time 
drafting and recruiting ceased, was 2,759,049 

The aggregate number of men credited on the several calls, and put 
into service of the United States, in the army, navy, and marine 
corps, during the above period, was 2,656,553 

Leaving a deficiency on all calls, when the war closed, of 102,596 

This statement does not include the regular army, nor the 
negro troops raised in the Southern States, which were not 
raised by calls on the States. It may be safely asserted that 
the "available force present for duty," of the Federal armies 
at the beginning or close of the last year of the war, exceeded 
the entire force called into the service of the Confederacy dur- 
ing the four years. The aggregate of Federal forces raised 
during the war numbered more than one-third of the free pop- 
ulation of the Confederate States, including men, women, and 
children.* 

*It has been contended that the odds against the South in numbers 
and resources were compensated by the advantages of her defensive posi- 
tion, and by the strong incentives of a war for her homes and liberties. 
An ingenious argument in demonstration of the assumed defective admin- 
istration of the Confederacy has been deduced from various historical 
examples of successful resistance against overwhelming odds. The most 
plausible citation has been the success of Frederick the Great, in his de- 
fense of Prussia against the coalition of Russia, Austria, and France. 
This illustration has no value, as it does not at all meet the case. 

Waiving all consideration of the peculiar strategic difficulties of the 
South, Frederick first had the advantage of his English alliance. Fred- 
erick never fought odds greater than two to one, while the South fought 
three, four, sometimes five to one — but never equal numbers. Again, 
Prussia was inaccessible except by overland marches — not penetrated, 
like the South, in every direction by navigable i-ivers, and nearly sur- 
rounded by the sea. Frederick, too, was absolute in Prussia, and had 
the lives and property of all his subjects at his control. Mr. Davis, on 
the other hand, never could consolidate the resources of the South as he 



576 LIFE OF JEFFERSON DAVIS. 

But this disparity of numbers, apparently sufficient of itself 
to decide the issue against the South, was by no means the 
greatest advantage of the North. When it is asserted that the 
naval superiority of the North decided the contest in its favor, 
we are not limited to the consideration merely of that absolute 
command of the water, which prevented the South from im- 
porting munitions of war, except at enormous expense and 
hazard, which made the defense of the sea-coast and contigu- 
ous territory impossible, and which so disorganized the Con- 
federate finances. The Confederacy encountered strategic dif- 
ficulties, by reason of the naval superiority of the North, 
which, at an early period of the war, counter-balanced the ad- 
vantages of its defensive position. 

In the beginning the enemy had easy, speedy, and secure 
access to the Southern coast, and wherever there was a harbor 
or inlet, was to be found a base of operations for a Federal 
army. Thus, at the outset, the Confederacy presented on 
every side an exposed frontier. In every quarter, the Federal 
armies had bases of operations at right angles, each to the 
other, and thus, wherever the Confederate army established a 

desired, being constantly hampered by demagogism in Congress, which 
could at all times be coerced by the press hostile to the administration, 
or influenced by the slightest display of popular displeasure. Pretending 
to place the whole means of the country at the disposal of the President, 
Congress yet invariably rendered its measures inoperative by emasculat- 
ing clauses providing exemptions and immunities of every description. 
President Davis was too sincere a republican, and had too much re- 
gard for the restraints of the Constitution to violently usurp ungranted 
powers. 

It is to be remembered, too, that the South received no foreign aid, 
while Frederick was at last saved by the accession of Peter to the Rus- 
sian throne, which event dissolved the coalition against Prussia. 



STRATEGIC DIFFICULTIES. 577 

defensive line, it was assailable by a second Federal army ad- 
vancing from a second base. The advantage of rapid concen- 
tration of forces, usually belonging to an interior line, was 
obviated by the easy and rapid conveyance of large masses by 
water. 

Probably the most serious strategic disadvantage of the South 
was its territorial configuration, through the intersection of its 
soil in nearly every quarter by navigable rivers, either empty- 
ing into the ocean, of which the North, at all times, had un- 
disputed control, or opening upon the Federal frontier. In all 
the Atlantic States of the Confederacy navigable streams pen- 
etrate far into the interior, and empty into the sea. The Mis- 
sissippi, aptly termed an "inland sea," flowing through the 
Confederacy, was, both in its upper waters and at its mouth, 
held by the North. The Tennessee and Cumberland Riv^ers, 
with their mouths upon the Federal frontiers, navigable in 
winter for transports and gunboats, in the first twelve months 
of the war, brought the Federal armies to the centre of the 
South-west. In the Trans-Mississippi region, the Arkansas 
and Red Rivers gave the enemy convenient and secure bases 
of operations along their margins. Each one of these streams 
having inevitably, sooner or later, become subject to the con- 
trol of the Federal navy, afforded bases of operations against 
the interior of the South, while it was likewise threatened from 
the Northern frontier. 

The difficulty of space, M'hich defeated Napoleon in his in- 
vasion of Russia, and which has baffled the largest armies led 
by the ablest commanders, had an easy solution for the North. 
Remarkable illustrations of the extent to which these water 
facilities aided the North, were afforded by the signal failure 
attending every overland advance of the Federal armies so 
37 



578 LIFE OF JEFFEESON DAVIS. 

loner as the Confederates could raise even the semblance of 

o 

an opposing force. Besides the innumerable Federal failures 
in the Appalachian region of Virginia, Sherman and Grant, 
the most successful of Northern commanders, illustrated this 
military principle in instances already noted. When Sherman 
finally marched from the Confederate frontier to the ocean. 
General Grant's policy of " attrition " had virtually destroyed 
the military strength of the South, and Sherman simply ac- 
complished an unopposed march through an undefended coun- 
try. There can be no better illustration of these strategic 
difficulties of the Confederacy, than that afibrded by the train 
of disasters in the beginning of 1862, each of which was di- 
rectly and mainly attributable to the naval advantages of the 
enemy and the geographical configuration. 

A candid review of the events of the first two years of the 
war will demonstrate the inevitable failure of subjugation of 
the South, but for these advantages of her invaders. Not only 
are the facilities of transportation possessed by the North to 
be considered, but the further advantage extended by its fleet 
in the event of military reverse. The shipping constituted an 
invulnerable defense and convenient shelter for the fugitive 
Federals. Upon at least two occasions, the two main Federal 
armies were rescued from destruction by the gunboats — in the 
case of Grant at Shiloh, and of McClellan on James River. 

Nor was it possible for the South to make adequate pro- 
vision to meet the naval advantages of the North. The Fed- 
eral Government retained the whole of the navy. The North 
was manufacturing and commercial, while the South was purely 
agricultural in its means; hence the incomparable rapidity with 
which the Federal Government accumulated shipping of every 
character. The initial superiority of the North in naval re- 



THE BLOCKADE. 579 

sources prevented the South from obtaining from foreign sources 
the men and the material for the equipment of vessels of war. 
Then, again, the disputed question of the capacity of shore 
batteries to resist vessels of war, had a most inopportune solu- 
tion for the South, and in cases where great interests were 
involved. We have already noted one instance where this 
question had a fatal solution — that of New Orleans. And in 
this instance, too, the want of time for preparation was a fatal 
difficulty. But for the unfinished condition of the iron-clads 
at New Orleans, the possession of the Mississippi by the enemy 
would have been greatly deferred, though, with the head-waters 
and mouth of the great river in Federal control, it was hardly 
more than a question of time, should the North skillfully em- 
ploy its superior manufacturing resources and preponderant 
population. 

The special weapon of the North, from which no amount 
of victories ever brought the Confederacy one moment's re- 
lief, was the blockade — a weapon which the injustice of for- 
eign powers placed in the grasp of our adversaries. The 
blockade ruined the Confederate finances and, by preventing 
the importation of military material, weakened the Confeder- 
ate armies to the extent of thousands of men who were de- 
tailed for manufacturing and other purposes. It was the 
blockade, too, which caused the derangement of the internal 
economy of the South, creating the painful contrast in the 
effects of the war upon the two sections. The North, with 
its ports open, the abundant gold of California, and petroleum 
stimulating speculation, found in the war a mine of wealth. 
Patriotism and profit went hand in hand. The vast expendi- 
tures of Government created a lucrative market; the enormous 
transportation demanded made the railroads prosperous beyond 



680 TAFE OF JEFFERSON DAVIS. 

parallel; and the sources of popular prosperity and exhilara- 
tion were inexhaustible. The condition of the South was the 
exact reverse. With its commerce almost totally suspended ; 
frequently in peril of famine ; whole States, one after another, 
occupied or devastated by the enemy, so that when the Confed- 
erate armies expelled the enemy they could not maintain them- 
selves, and were compelled to retreat; deprived of every comfort, 
and nearly of all the necessaries of life, the history of the war 
in the South is a record of universal and unrelieved suffering. 
It must be apparent that we have here given but a superfi- 
cial review and imperfect statement of the obstacles with which 
the South contended. But, assuredly, before even this array 
of odds, such minor questions as the removal of one officer and 
the retention of another sink into utter insignificance. As we 
have before intimated, many of the most important incidents 
in the conduct of the war must be reserved for the decision of 
impartial military judgment. AYhat if it should be granted 
that the appointment of Pemberton and the removal of John- 
ston were fatal blunders, were they compensated by no acts of 
judicious selection of other officers for promotion and reward? 
Is the firm and constant support of Lee, of Sidney Johnston, 
of Jackson, and of Early to be accounted as nothing? Are 
we to accept the imputation of error to Mr. Davis alone ? We 
need not pursue the career of General Johnston much farther 
than its beginning to discover what his countrymen unani- 
mously deplored as an error, what Stonewall Jackson declared 
a fatal blunder. General Lee confessed his error at Gettys- 
l)urg. Beauregard, too, has been generally adjudged to have 
seriously erred at Shiloh. Yet how easy Avould it be to con- 
struct a plausible theory, demonstrating the seriously adverse 
influence upon the fortunes of the Confederacy, from each one 



GENERAL 1KX;D. 581 

of those errors. And we could extend the parallel much 
farther. Napoleon estimated the merits of diiferent generals 
by the comparative number of their faults and virtues. Per- 
haps that is even a better philosophy which urges us to 
measure the reputations of men, " not by their exemption from 
fault, but by the size of the virtues of which they are pos- 
sessed." Assuredly, the South can never demur to the appli- 
cation of this test either to herself or her late leader. Judged 
by such a standard of merit, neither can be apprehensive for 
the award of posterity. Two generations hence, if not sooner, 
Jeiferson Davis, not less for his. wisdom than for his virtues, 
will be commemorated as the Washington of the South. 

With a view to dramatic unity, we shall disregard somewhat 
of chronological order, and follow, with a rapid summary, the 
movements of the ill-starred Western army of the Confederacy, 
to the point where its existence virtually terminated. The 
successor of General Johnston, General John B. Hood, em- 
bodied a rare union of the characteristics of the popular ideal 
of a soldier. He was the noblest contribution of Kentucky 
chivalry to the armies of the South, and his record throughout 
the war, even though ending in terrible disaster, was that of a 
gallant, dashing, and skillful leader. Identified with the Army 
of Northern Virginia from an early period of its history, he 
shared its dangers, its trials, and its most thrilling triumphs. 
" Hood and his Texans " were household words in the Con- 
federacy, and the bulletins from every battle-field in Virginia 
were emblazoned with their exploits. Few commanders have 
possessed to a greater extent than Hood that magnetic mastery 
over troops, which imbues them with the consciousness of irre- 
sistible resolution. Of conspicuous personal gallantry and com- 
manding physique, he united to fiery energy, consummate self- 



582 LIFE OF JEFFEESON DAVIS. 

possession and excellent tactical ability. A favorite with 
General Lee and President Davis, he had also received the 
■warm commendation of Stonewall Jackson for his distin- 
guished services at Cold Harbor, in 1862. 

Painfully wounded and disabled at Gettysburg, he accom- 
panied his old division to Georgia, and, while his previous 
wound was yet unhealed, he lost a leg at Chickamauga. 
After months of painful confinement, he was again in Rich- 
mond, soliciting the privilege of additional service to his 
country. His conspicuous devotion challenged equally the 
admiration of the people and the Government, and President 
Davis was universally declared never to have conferred a more 
deserved promotion than that by which he made Hood a 
Lieutenant-General. General Hood was assigned to the com- 
mand of a corps under Johnston, and accompanied the army 
in its movements from Dal ton to Atlanta. 

The appointment of Hood as the successor of Johnston was 
the occasion of renewed anticipation to the South. His ag- 
gressive qualities, it was thought, would supply that bold and 
energetic policy which the country believed to be the great 
need of the situation in Georgia. Nor was there any thing 
in the record of Hood, to cause apprehension that his posses- 
.sion of these qualities excluded such an equipoise of mental 
faculties, as should ensure a sound and discreet system of 
operations. 

We shall not discuss in detail the operations which General 
Hood so speedily inaugurated. They were necessitated, to a 
large extent, by a situation of affairs for which he was not re- 
sponsible. The one object of Hood, and the one hope and 
necessity of the Confederacy, was the expulsion of Sherman 
from a vital section. Sherman had not delayed an hour in 



FALL OF ATLANTA. 583 

his purpose of securing possession of the Macon road, and sev- 
ering the communications of Atlanta. Ah-eady he was pre- 
paring operations similar to those by which Grant sought the 
isolation of Petersburg ; and if his strength was not then ade- 
quate, there could be no question of his capacity to obtain ample 
means from his Government to secure the great results of his 
skillfully conducted and successful campaign. The situation 
required precisely that immediate execution of a vigorous 
policy by which Lee had relieved Richmond of the presence 
of McClellan. 

AVhile thus foreseeing the fatal result of permitting himself 
to be besieged in Atlanta, General Hood did not rashly assail 
the enemy. A favorable opportunity was presented, by a gap 
between two of Sherman's columns, for a concentrated assault 
upon that which was most exposed. Though the Confederate 
forces were admirably massed and skillfully led, they were 
eventually repulsed by the murderous fire of the Federal 
artillery, which was concentrated with signal promptitude and 
served with rare ability. This demonstration was a failure, 
though it had promised favorably, and, for a time, exposed the 
entire Federal army to serious danger. A series of subsequent 
engagements, fought by Hood to prevent the consummation of 
Sherman's design to Isolate Atlanta, left the enemy in possession 
of the Confederate line of supply, and Atlanta was evacuated 
on the 1st of September. 

Such was the melancholy conclusion, for the Confederacy, 
of the first stage of the Georgia campaign. Military judg- 
ment must decide, how far an able offensive policy, at the out- 
set of the campaign would have delayed, if not entirely checked 
the march of Sherman to Atlanta ; how far an offensive was 
then practicable ; to what extent Hood's course was imposed 



584 T.IFE OF JKFFKUSON DAVIS. 

upon lilm by a situation wliicli he did not create, and whether 
his accession to command, either altered or hastened the ulti- 
mate fate of Atlanta. 

The emergency consequent upon the fall of Atlanta, sum- 
moned President Davis to Georgia. His visit was dictated 
by the double purpose, of healing dissensions in that State, 
and of devising measures for the restoration of the campaign. 
The perverse course of Governor Brown had proven successful 
in the dissemination of disaffection, and his teachings were 
beginning to mature those fruits of demoralization in Georgia, 
which the subsequent march of Sherman abundantly developed. 
It would be impossible to characterize the conduct of this of- 
ficial in terms of extravagant severity. Capricious and per- 
verse in his hostility to the Confederate Government, while yet 
professing fealty to the cause, he contrived, in the most dis- 
tressing exigencies, to paralyze the energies of Georgia, and 
finally to create a feeling bordering closely upon open disaf- 
fection. 

The conduct of Governor Brown, acceptable only to the 
clique of malcontents who followed him, w'as the subject of 
criticism throughout the Confederacy, and of suspicion by a 
large portion of the public. It is a matter of record that 
after tlie fall of Atlanta he refused to cooperate with the Con- 
federate authorities for the defense of Georgia, and demanded 
the return of the Georgia troops in Virginia, unless the Presi- 
dent would send reenforcements. Yet he was perfectly aware 
that the Confederate Government then, had not one man to 
spare in any quarter, and was in a crisis, produced solely by 
the want of numbers. His communications to the Confederate 
Government were usually splenetic assaults upon the Presi- 
dent, Avhose military administration he offensively criticised, 



GOVERNOR BROWN". 585 

and whom he charged with an ambition to destroy every pro- 
tection to the reserved rights of the States. There is no point 
of view in which the course of Governor Brown is not equally 
incomprehensible and indefensible. It was freighted with 
disaster and defeat to the cause which he professed to serve. 
Considered in the aspect of partisan administration, or the in- 
dulgence of personal spleen, its inconsistency was paralleled 
only by its folly. It demoralized public sentiment, and tended 
largely to that corruption of the public and the army which, 
in the last stage of the war, was so palpable. Not the least 
injurious feature of Governor Brown's official policy was the 
unpropitious seasons which he selected for the indulgence of 
his capricious and splenetic moods. Upon the heels of crush- 
ing military disasters, and when the Confederate authorities 
were most helpless. Governor Brown was most exacting. 

The purposes of his persistent and vindictive impeachments 
of the Confederate Government, at such periods, must remain 
a subject of speculation. Certainly he did not exalt his dig- 
nity as a statesman, nor approve his earnestness as a patriot, 
by giving precedence to his personal animoj^ities over his of- 
ficial duties, and by substituting for cooperation in support of 
a cause to which he protested his devotion, a system of malig- 
nant controversy with the national authorities. 

The interviews of President Davis, with Governor Brown, 
during his visit to Georgia, in Sejitember, failed, as had all 
previous efforts to that end, to effect an accommodation of 
differences. Governor Brown was determined not to be satis- 
fied, and though ]\Ir. Davis, having made nearly every conces- 
sion demanded, left him under the impression that Brown was 
at last prepared to cooperate with him heartily and zealously, 
he was speedily convinced of the error of such a calculation. 



58G LIFE OF JEFFEESON DAVIS. 

While on his way to Hood's army Mr. Davis addressed the 
citizens of Macon, and spoke with great candor, concerning 
the perils of the situation, which, though serious, he believed, 
might be repaired. Alluding to the demand made upon him 
for reenforcements from Virginia, he said that the disparity 
in Virginia was greater than in Georgia; the army under 
Early had been sent to the Valley, because the enemy had 
penetrated to Lynchburg; and now should Early be with- 
drawn, there would be nothing to prevent the Federal army 
from forming a complete cordon of men around Richmond. 
He had counseled with General Lee upon all these points ; 
his mind had sought to embrace the entire field, and the 
necessities of every quarter, and his conclusion was, that "if 
one-half of the men now absent from the field, would return 
to duty, we can defeat the enemy. With that hope, I am 
now going to the front. I may not realize this hope, but I 
know that there are men there, who have looked death too 
often in the face to despond now." 

On the 18th September, the President reached Hood's head- 
quarters, and on the following day reviewed the whole army. 
He addressed the troops in terms of encouragement, and his 
promise to them of an advance northward, was received with 
unbounded enthusiasm. The situation in Georgia admitted a 
very limited consideration of expedients, by which to obtain 
compensation for the loss of Atlanta. Sherman's presence, un- 
molested, in the interior of Georgia, during the autumn and 
winter, would be fatal. He would then be in a position to 
assail, at leisure, the only remaining source of supplies for the 
Confederate armies. His cavalry could safely penetrate in 
every direction, destroying communications and suj^plies, and 
producing universal demoralization. 



THE TENNESSEE CAMrAIGN. 587 

Hood was confident that his army was capable of better 
fighting than it had performed against Sherman, provided it 
could meet the enemy under such circumstances as should 
promise the recovery of the ground lost, in the event of vic- 
tory. To attack Sherman in Atlanta was not to be considered, 
and to await the development of the enemy's plan would be 
dangerous. Sherman had already announced his purpose to 
rest his army at Atlanta, with a view to its preparation for the 
arduous enterprises yet before it. Hence, it became necessary 
to adopt a plan, which should draw him away from his de- 
fenses, and compel him to fight upon equal ground. 

It may be briefly stated that the subsequent operations of 
General Hood, when they ceased to menace the enemy's flank, 
and assumed the character of a mere detachment upon the Fed- 
eral rear, was not the plan of campaign which Mr. Davis 
expected to be carried into execution. He approved a con- 
centration upon the Federal flank, which it was not likely 
Sherman would permit to be endangered. Seeing, however, 
the exposed situation of the country south of Atlanta, in con- 
sequence of the movement into Alabama, Mr. Davis opposed 
any operations which should place Hood's army beyond striking 
distance of Sherman, should the latter move southicard from At- 
lanta. 

It is remarkable to what extent the movements of Sherman 
demonstrated the judicious character of the Confederate move- 
ment, so long as it was in conformity with these views of Mr. 
Davis. Puzzled, at first, as to Hood's purposes, Sherman was 
no longer perplexed as to what his own course should be, when 
it was evident that Hood was making a serious demonstration 
for the recovery of Tennessee, meanwhile giving up Georgia 
entirely to Federal possession. When these larger and more 



588 LIFE OF JEFFKRSOX DAVIS. 

doubtful enterprises were added to the original scope of the 
Confederate movement, Mr. Davis was too remote from the 
scene to assume the responsibility of recalling the army from 
an enterprise which he felt assured would not be attempted 
without justifying information by the commander.* 

But, after all, the disastrous consequences, following the un- 
covering of Georgia, are to be attributed less to the intrinsic- 
ally erroneous strategy of Hood, than to the consummate vigor 
and promptitude of Sherman. Odious to the South as Sher- 
man is, by reason of his cruelties and barbarities, he can not 
be denied the merit of an immediate grasp of the critical situ- 
ation, and a no less prompt execution. A commander of less 
self-possession, and less audacity, would have been bewildered 
by the transfer of an army from his immediate front to his 
rear, and placed astride his communications. The " march to 
the sea " was no military exploit, and only a brazen charlatan- 
ism could exalt it as an illustration of genius. The proof of 

* General Hood's magnanimous acknowledgment is sufficient for the 
acquittal of Mr. Davis from any responsibility for this ill-starred move- 
ment. On taking leave of his army, in January, 1865, Hood said, speak- 
ing of the late campaign : "/ a??i alone responsible for its conception, and 
strove hard to do my duty in its execution." 

But in addition to this, there was a coiTespondence, between Mr. Davis 
and a Confederate officer of high rank, which completely exculpated Mr. 
Davis. In accordance with Mr. Davis' accustomed magnanimity and re- 
gard for the public welfare, this correspondence was never published. 
The facts in this matter conspicuously illustrate the persistent and reck- 
less misrepresentation, which has not ceased with the termination of the 
war. With a class of writers, the facts regarding jMr. Davis are things 
least to be desired. In many instances, their attacks upon his fame are 
puerile, but in others, where facts are either distorted or wantonly dis- 
regarded, the object seems to be merely to gratify a wicked spirit of de- 
traction. 



hood's defeat. 589 

Sherman's merit is to be seen in the quick determination and 
execution of his purpose, when the real significance of Hood's 
operations was revealed. His telegram to Washington fully 
described the situation and prophesied the sequel : " Hood has 
crossed the Tennessee. Thomas will take care of him and 
Nashville, while Schofield will not let him into Chattanooga 
or Knoxville. Georgia and South Carolina are at my mercy, 
and I shall strilce. Do not be anxious about me. I am all 
right." 

We are not permitted to trace the unfortunate Tennessee 
campaign of General Hood, culminating in his disastrous de- 
feat at Nashville, in December, and in the virtual destruction 
of the gallant but ill-starred army, upon whose bayonets the 
Confederate power, west of the Alleghanies, was so long up- 
held. It was the final campaign of the Confederacy in that 
quarter, and, with its failure, perished forever the hope of de- 
fending the western and central sections of the South.* Mean- 
while, Sherman, unopposed, had marched like Fate through 
Georgia, to Savannah, realizing Grant's assertion that the Con- 
federacy was a mere shell, and revealing a flict, until then not 
clearly appreciated, of the exhaustion and demoralization of its 
people. 

''"In the autumn of 1864, General Price advanced into Missouri, pro- 
claiming his purpose to be a permanent occupation. The expedition 
ended in disaster. Defeated in an engagement on the Big Blue, Price 
retreated into Kansas, and finally into Southern Arkansas. The cam- 
paign did not affect the current of the war elsewhere, and was a failure. 



590 LIFE OF JEFFERSON DAVIS. 



CHAPTER XX. 

INCIDENTS ON THE LINES OF RICHMOND AND PETERSBURG DURING THE SUMMER 

AND AUTUMN CAPTURE OF FORT HARRISON OTHER DEMONSTRATIONS BY 

GRANT THE SITUATION NEAR THE CONFEDERATE CAPITAL EARLy's VALLEY 

CAMPAIGN POPULAR CENSURE OF EARLY INFLUENCE OF THE VALLEY CAM- 
PAIGN UPON THE SITUATION NEAR RICHMOND — WHAT THE AGGREGATE OP 
CONFEDERATE DISASTERS SIGNIFIED — DESPONDENCY OF THE SOUTH — THE IN- 
JURIOUS EXAMPLES OF PROMINENT MEN THE PRESIDENT AND GENERAL LEE 

MR. DAVIs' POPULARITY AVHY HE DID NOT FULLY COMPREHEND THE DE- 
MORALIZATION OF THE PEOPLE HE HOPES FOR POPULAR REANIMATION WAS 

THE CASE OF THE CONFEDERACY HOPELESS ? — VACILLATING CONDUCT OF CON- 
GRESS — THE CONFEDERATE CONGRESS A WEAK BODY — MR. DAVIs' RELATIONS 
WITH CONGRESS:r-PROPOSED CONSCRIPTION OF SLAVES — FAVORED BY DAVIS 
AND LEE — DEFEATED BY CONGRESS — LEGISLATION DIRECTED AGAINST THE 

PRESIDENT DAVIs' OPINION OF LEE RUMORS OP PEACE HAMPTON ROADS 

CONFERENCE THE FEDERAL ULTIMATUM THE ABSURD CHARGE AGAINST 

MR. DAVIS OF OBSTRUCTING NEGOTIATIONS HIS RECORD ON THE SUBJECT OP 

PEACE A RICHMOND NEWSPAPER ON THE FEDERAL ULTIMATUM DELUSIVE 

SIGNS OF PUBLIC SPIRIT NO ALTERNATIVE BUT CONTINUED RESISTANCE 

REPORT OF THE HAMPTON ROADS CONFERENCE. 

"I /TEANWHITiE the siege of Petersburg had progressed 
-*-'-■- drearily through the months of summer and autumn. 
The "hammering" principle was abandoned by General Grant, 
for a series of maneuvres having in view the possession of the 
railroads extending southward and eastward. 

About the middle of August a portion of Grant's army was 
established upon the Wcldon road. This w^as by no means a 
line of communication vital to General Lee, though several 
heavy engagements ensued from its disputed possession. The 



INCIDENTS ON THE RICHMOND LINES. 591 

Federal losses in these engagements were very heavy, and were 
hardly compensated by any immediate advantage following the 
permanent acquisition, by General Grant, of the Weldon Rail- 
road. The location of the Federal army gave ample opportu- 
nity for the transfer of forces to either side of the river, and 
General Grant did not fail to avail himself of his facilities, for 
aiding the more important operations before Petersburg, by 
numerous diversions in the direction of Richmond. One of 
these movements upon the north side of James River, in the 
last days of September, resulted disastrously to the Confeder- 
ates, in the loss of Fort Harrison, a position of great impor- 
tance in the defense of that portion of the Confederate line. 
Efforts to recapture it were unavailing, and attended with 
heavy loss. The enemy was left in secure possession of a posi- 
tion from which Richmond could be seriously menaced. The 
last serious demonstration by General Grant, before winter, was 
the movement of a heavy force, w^ith the view of turning the 
Confederate position, and obtaining the possession of Lee's 
communications with Lynchburg and Danville. Though sus- 
tained by a strong diversion on other portions of the line, this 
demonstration was barren of results. 

Thus, the beginning of winter found the Confederate forces 
still safely holding the lines of Richmond and Petersburg. 
The situation near the Confederate capital was encouraging, 
and indicated an almost indefinite resistance. But nearly every 
other quarter of the Confederacy was darkened by the shadow 
of disaster. 

The campaign of Hood in Tennessee had its counterpart in 
the Valley campaign of General Early. This campaign, the 
original design of which was the expulsion of Hunter, was 
doubly important afterwards in the design to secure the harvests 



592 LIFE OF JEFFERSON DAVIS. 

of the Shenandoali Valley, and to continue the diversion of a 
large Federal force from the front of Kichmond. The earlier 
movements of General Early were attended with success, and 
the Confederacy had the promise of a campaign, which should 
renew the glories of Stonewall Jackson, in a district which his 
exploits had made forever famous. In its conclusion was re- 
vealed, perhaps more strikingly than upon any other theatre of 
the M'ar, the overwhelming odds and obstacles, with which the 
Confederacy contended in this desperate stage of its history. 
The activity of General Early in the summer months, and his 
w'ell-earned reputation as an officer of skill and daring, induced 
the enemy to concentrate a heavy force to protect the Potomac 
frontier, and, if possible, to overwhelm the Confederate army in 
the Valley. In the months of September and October, several 
engagements occurred, in which General Early was badly de- 
feated, and his army at the close of autumn exhibited so many 
evidences of demoralization, as to occasion apprehension for its 
future efficiency. 

The censure of General Early by the public and the news- 
papers was unsparing. Most unworthy allegations, totally un- 
supported, were circulated in explanation of his disasters. 
That such a man as Early, whose every promotion had been 
won by a heroism and efficiency inferior to those of none of 
Lee's subordinates, should have been recklessly condemned for 
reverses, which were clearly the results of no errors or mis- 
conduct of his own, is now a striking commentary upon that 
sullen despondency into which the Southern mind was fast 
settling. A victory, in any quarter, was now almost the last 
expectation of the public, and still Early was recklessly abused 
for not winning victories, wdth a demoralized army, against . 
forces having four times his own strength. Neither President 



THE VALLEY CAMPAIGN. 593 

Davis nor General Lee ever doubted General Early's effieienoy ; 
and the letter of the commanding general to Early, written in 
the last hours of the Confederacy, constitutes a tribute to patri- 
otic and distinguished services, which the old licro may well 
cherish in his exile, as a worthy title to the esteem of posterity. 

The defeat of Early at Cedar Creek, late in Octobei-, was the 
decisive event of the last campaign in the Shenandoah Valley. 
In December nearly all Early's forces were transferred to 
General Lee's lines, and the bulk of the Federal array in the 
Valley returned to General Grant. General Early remained in 
the Valley with a fragmentary command, which Sheridan easily 
overran on his march from Winchester to the front of Peters- 
burg. 

Events in the Valley had a marked influence upon the situa- 
tion near Richmond. The Confederate authorities had hoped 
for such a successful issue in the Valley as should relieve Rich- 
mond of much of Grant's pressure. The disappointment of 
this hope left the Federal frontier secure, and gave Grant a 
large accession of strength, for which Lee had no compensation, 
except the debris of a defeated and dispirited army. 

The aggregate of military disasters with which the year 18G-1 
terminated, established the inevitable failure of the Confeder- 
acy, unless more vigorous measures- than the Government had 
ever yet attempted should be adopted, and unless the jieople 
were prepared for sacrifices which had not yet been exacted. 
The reserves of men, which the various acts of conscription 
were designed to place in the field, were exhausted, or beyond 
the reach of the Government, and the supplies of the army 
became more and more precarious each day. There was, in- 
deed, nothing fatal as affecting the ultimate decision of the 
contest, in the military events of the past year, if unattended 
38 



594 LIFE OF JEFFEESON DAVIS. 

by a decay of public spirit. It was not until the winter of 
1864-1865 that any considerable body of the Southern people 
were brought to the conviction that their struggle was a hope- 
less one. The waste of war is in nothing more continuous than 
in its test of the moral energy of communities. In the last 
winter of the war the distrust of the popular mind was 
painfully apparent. The South began to read its fate when 
it saw that the North had converted warfare into universal 
destruction and desolation, and when it exchanged the code 
of civilized war for the grim butchery of Grant, and the savage 
measures of Sherman and Sheridan. It was plain that while 
the losses of the Federal army were shocking, and were suffi- 
cient to have unnerved the army and the people of the North, 
the "attrition" of General Grant had caused a fearful dimi- 
nution of the Confederate armies. 

The facility of the Federal Government in repairing its 
losses of men, baffled all previous calculation in the Confeder- 
acy, and it had long since become evident that the resources 
of the North, in all other respects, Avere equal to an indefinite 
endurance. Indeed, it has been justly said that the material 
resources of the North were not seriously tested, but merely 
developed by the war. Peculiarly disheartening to the South 
was the triumph of the Republican party in the reelection of 
Mr. Lincoln — an event plainly portending a protraction of the 
war upon a scale, M'hich should adequately employ the in- 
exhaustible means at the command of the Federal Govern- 
ment. 

It would be needless to speculate now as to the material 
capacity of the South to have met the demands of another 
campaign. The military capacity of the Confederacy in the 
last months of the war, is not to be measured by the number 



DESPONDENCY OF THE SOUTH. 595 

of men that still might have been brought to the field, or by 
the material means which yet survived the consumption and 
waste of war. These considerations are admissible only in 
connection with that moral condition of the public, which 
fitted or disqualified it for longer enduranoo of the privations 
and sacrifices of the war. Long before the close of winter, 
popular feeling assumed a phase of sullen indifference which, 
w^hile yet averse to unconditional submission to the North, 
manifestly despaired of* ultimate success, viewed additional 
sacrifices as hopeless, and anticipated the worst. 

Only a hasty and ill-informed judgment could condemn the 
Southern people for the decay of its spirit in this last stage 
of the war. No people ever endured with more heroism the 
trials and privations incidental to their situation. Yet these 
sacrifices appeared to have been to no purpose; a cruel and 
inexorable fate seemed to pursue them, and to taunt them with 
the futility of exertion to escape its decree. Victories, which 
had amazed the world, and again and again stunned a powerful 
adversary, and which the South felt that, under ordinary cir- 
cumstances, should have secured the reward of independence, 
W'Cre recurred to only as making more bitter the chagrin of 
the present. Previous defeats, at the time seeming fatal, had 
been patiently encountered, and bravely surmounted, so long 
as victory appeared to offer a reward which should compen- 
sate for the sacrifice necessary to obtain it. But, now, even 
the hope of victory had almost ceased to be a source of en- 
couragement, since any probable success would only tend to 
a postponement of the inevitable catastrophe, which, perhaps, 
it would be better to invite than to defer. 

It must be confessed, too, that the people and the army of 
the Confederacy, in this crisis, found but little source of re- 



596 LIFE OF JEFFERSON DAVIS. 

animation in the example of a majority of its public men. 
Long before the taint of demoralization reached the heart of 
the masses, the Confederate cause had been despaired of by 
men whose influence and position determined the convictions 
of whole communities. In President Davis and General Lee 
the South saw conspicuous examples of resolution, fortitude, 
and self-abnegation. It is not to be denied that the impatient 
and almost despairing temper of the public was visibly influ- 
enced by the persistent crimination of Mr. Davis, by the fac- 
tion which sought to thwart him even at the hazard of the 
public welfire. But when it was discovered that the unity of 
counsel and purpose which had animated the President and 
General Lee at every stage of the struggle, was still main- 
tained, popular sympathy still clung to the leader, whose un- 
selfish devotion and unshaken fortitude should have been a 
sufficient rebuke to his accusers. 

A vast deal of misrepresentation has been indulged to show 
that Mr. Davis had become unpopular in the last stage of the 
war, and that he was the object of popular reproach as chiefly 
responsible for the condition of the country. To the contrary, 
there were many evidences of the sympathy which embraced 
INIr. Davis as probably the chief sufferer from apprehended 
calamities. His appearance in public in Eichmond, was al- 
ways the occasion of unrestrained popular enthusiasm. Even 
but a few weeks before the final catastrophe, there were signal 
instances of the popular affection for him, and it was painfully 
evident to those who knew his character, that these demon- 
strations were accepted by him as an exhibition of popular 
confidence in the success of the cause. Indeed, the very con- 
fidence which these exhibitions of popular sympathy produced 
in the mind of Mr. Davis, has been urged as an evidence of 



MR. DAVIS' HOPES. 597 

a want of sagacity, which disqualified him for a clear apprecia- 
tion of the situation of affairs. 

Perhaps with more color of truth than usual, this view of 
Mr. Davis' character has been presented. That he did not 
fully comprehend the wide-spread demoralization of the South 
in the last months of the war, is hardly to be questioned. 
Judging men by his own exalted nature, he conceived it im- 
possible that the South could ever abandon its hope of inde- 
pendence. He did not realize how men could cherish an aspi- 
ration for the future, which did not embrace the liberty of 
their country. JSTo sacrifice of personal interests or hopes 
were, in his view, too great to be demanded of the country 
in behalf of a cause, for which he was at all times ready to 
surrender his life. Of such devotion and self-abnegation, a 
sanguine and resolute spirit was the natural product, and it is 
a paltry view of such qualities to characterize them as the 
proof of defective intellect. Just such qualities have won the 
battles of liberty in all ages. Washington, at Valley Forge, 
with a wretched remnant of an army, which was yet the last 
hope of the country, and with even a more gloomy future im- 
mediately before him, declared that in the last emergency he 
would retreat to the mountains of Virginia, and there continue 
the struggle in the hope that he would "yet lift the flag of 
his bleeding country from the dust." In the same spirit Jef- 
ferson Davis would never have abandoned the Confederate 
cause so long as it had even a semblance of popular supp(jrt. 

Almost to the last moment of the Confederacy, he continued 
to cherish the hope of a reaction in the public mind, which he 
believed would be immediately kindled to its old enthusiasm by 
a decided success. It was in recognition of this quality of in- 
flexible purpose, as much as of any other trait of his character. 



598 LIFE OF JEFFERSON DAVIS. 

that the South originally intrusted Davis with leadershijj. 
Fit leaders .of revolutions are not usually found in men of 
half-hearted purpose, wanting in resolution themselves, and 
doubting the fidelity of those whom they govern. Desperate 
trial is the occasion which calls forth the courage of those truly 
great men, who, while ordinary men despair, confront agony 
itself with sublime resolution. 

If ingenuity and malignity have combined to exaggerate 
the faults of Mr. Davis, the love of his countrymen, the can- 
dor of honorable enemies, and the intelligence of mankind have 
recognized his intellectual and moral greatness. The world 
to-day does not aflPord such an example of those blended qual- 
ities which constitute the title to universal excellence. For 
one in his position, the leader of a bold, warlike, intelligent, 
and discerning people, there was demanded that union of ardor 
and deliberation which he so peculiarly illustrated. Revolu- 
tionary periods imperatively demand this union of capacities 
for thought and action. The peculiar charm of Mr. Davis is 
the perfect poise of his faculities ; an almost exact adjustment 
of qualities; of indomitable energy and winning grace; heroic 
courage and tender affection ; strength of character, and almost 
excessive compassion ; of calculating judgment and knightly 
sentiment ; acute penetration and analysis ; comprehensive per- 
ception; laborious habits, and almost universal knowledge. 
Of him it may be said as of Hamilton : " He wore the blended 
wreath of arms, of law, of statesmanship, of oratory, of letters, 
of scholarship, of practical affairs;" and in most of these fields 
of distinction, Mr. Davis has few rivals among the public 
men of America. 

But it is altogether a fallacious supposition that the mili- 
tary situation of the Confederacy, in the last winter of the 



THE CONFEDERATE CONGRESS. 599 

"war, -was beyond reclamation. The most liasty glance at the 
situation revealed the feasibility of destroying Sherman, when 
he turned northward from Savannah, with a proper concen- 
tration of the forces yet available. President Davis anxiously 
sought to secure this concentration, but was disappointed by 
causes which need not here be related. With Sherman de- 
feated, the Confederacy must have obtained a new lease of 
life, as all the territory which he had overrun, would immedi- 
ately be recovered, and the worthless title of his conquests 
would be apparent, even to the North. There were indeed 
many aspects of the situation encouraging to enterprise, could 
an adequate army be obtained, and the heart of the country 
reanimated. President Davis was not alone in the indulgence 
of hope of better fortune. Again he had the sanction of Lee's 
name in confirmation of his hopes, and in support of the meas- 
ures which he recommended. 

But the resolution of the President was not sustained by the 
cooperation of Congress. The last session of that body was 
commemorated by a signal display of timidity and vacillation. 
Congress assembled in November, and at the beginning of its 
session its nerve was visibly shaken. Before its adjournment 
in March, there was no longer even a pretense of organized 
opinion and systematic legislation. Its occupation during the 
winter was mainly crimination of the President, and a con- 
temptible frivolity, which at last provoked the hearty disgust 
of the public. The calibre of the last Confederate Congress 
may be correctly estimated, when it is stated that as late as 
the 22d of February, 1865, less than sixty days before the fldl 
of Richmond, that body was earnestly engaged in devising a 
new flag for the Confederacy. 

Not a single measure of importance was adopted without 



600 LIFE OF JEFFEKSON DAVIS. 

some emasculating clause, or without such postponement as 
made it practically inoperative. Of all the vigorous sug- 
gestions of Mr. Davis for recruiting the army, mobilizing the 
subsistence, and renovating the material condition of the coun- 
try, hardly one was adopted in a practicable shape. Congress 
had clearly despaired of the cause. It had not the courage to 
counsel the submission, of which it secretly felt the necessity, 
and left the capital with a declaration that the " conquest of 
the Confederacy was geographically impossible," yet clearly 
attesting by its flight a very different view of the situation. 

The history of the Congress of the Confederate States is a 
record of singular imbecility and irresolution. It was a body 
without leaders, without po^^ular sympathy, without a single 
one of those heroic attributes which are usually evoked in peri- 
ods of revolution. It may safely be asserted that in the history 
of no other great revolution does the statesmanship of its legis- 
lators appear so contemptible, when compared with the military 
administration which guided its armies. Whatever may be 
the estimate of the executive ability of the Confederate admin- 
istration, it can not be denied that its courage was abundant ; 
nor can it be questioned that the courage of Congress often 
required the spur of popular sentiment. In the wholesale 
condemnation of Mr. Davis by a class of writers, it is remark- 
able that the defective legislation of the Confederacy should be 
accredited with so little influence in producing its failure. If 
he was so grossly incompetent, what must be the verdict of his- 
tory upon a body which, for four years, submitted to a ruinous 
administration when the corrective means were in its own 
hands ? 

Of Mr. Davis' relations with Congress, Ex-Secretary Mal- 
lory writes as follows : 



MK. DAVIS' RELATIONS WITH CONGRESS. 601 

" I have said that his relations with members of Congress were 
not what they should have been, nor were they what they might 
have been. Towards them, as towards the world generally, he wore 
his personal opinions very openly. Position and opportunity pre- 
sented him every means of cultivating the personal good-will of 
members by little acts of attention, courtesy, or deference, which 
no man, however high in his position, who has to work by means 
of his fellows, can dispense with. Grreat minds can, in spite of 
the absence of these demonstrations towards them in a leader — 
nay, in the face of neglect or apparent disrespect — go on steadily 
and bravely, with a single eye to the public welfare ; but the 
number of these in comparison to those who are more or less 
governed by personal considerations in the discharge of their 
public duties is small. While he was ever frank and cordial to 
his friends, and to all whom he believed to be embarked heart 
and soul in the cause of Southern independence, he would not, 
and, we think, could not, sacrifice a smile, an inflection of the 
voice, or a demonstration of attention to flatter the self-love of 
any man, in or out of Congress, who did not stand in this relation. 
Acting himself for the public welfare, regardless of self or the opin- 
ions of others, he placed too light a value upon the thousand nameless 
influences by which he might have brought others up, apparently, 
to his own high moral standard. By members of Congress, who 
had to see him on business, his reception of them was frequently 
complained of as ungracious. They frequently, in their anxiety 
amidst public disaster, called upon him to urge plans, suggestions, 
or views on the conduct of the war, or for the attainment of peace, 
and often pressed matters upoQ him which he had very carefully 
considered, and for which he alone was responsible. 

"Often, in such cases, though he listened to all they had to say — 
why, for example, some man should be made a brigadier, major 
or lieutenant-general, or placed at the head of an army, etc. — and 
in return calmly and precisely stated his reasons against the 



602 LIFE OF JEFFERSON DAVIS. 

measure, he at times failed to satisfy or convince them, simply 
because, in his manner and language combined, there was just an 
indescribable something which oifended their self-esteem. Some 
of his best friends left him at times with feelings bordering 
closely upon anger from this cause, and with a determination, 
hastily formed, of calling no more upon him ; and some of the 
most sensible and patriotic men of both Houses were alienated 
from him more or less from this cause. The counsel of judicious 
friends upon this subject, and as to more unrestrained intercourse 
between him and the members of the Senate and the House, was 
vainly exerted. His manly, fearless, true, and noble nature turned 
from what to him wore the faintest approach to seeking popularity, 
and he scorned to believe it necessary to coax men to do their 
duty to their country in her darkest hour of need," 

"When Congress assembled in November it was plain that 
the army must have other means of recruiting than from the 
remnant yet left by the conscription. There was but one 
measure by which the requisite numbers could be supplied, 
and that was the extension of the conscription to the slave 
population. Public sentiment was at first much divided upon 
this subject, but gradually the propriety of the measure was 
made evident, and something like a renewal of hope was man- 
ifested at the prospect of making use of an element which the 
enemy so efficiently employed. President Davis had, for months 
previous, contemplated the enlistment of the slaves for service 
in various capacities in the field. In the last winter of the 
war he strongly urged a negro enrollment, as did General Lee, 
whose letter to a member of Congress eventually convinced the 
country of its necessity. 

Whatever may have been the merits of the proposition to 
arm the slaves, as a means of renovating the military condition 



VACILLATING COURSE OF CONGRESS. G03 

of the Confederacy, the dilatory action of Congress left no hope 
of its practical execution. The discussion upon this subject 
continued during the entire session, and was at last terminated 
by the adoption of a bill providing for the reception of such 
slaves into the service as might be tendered by their masters. 
Mr. Davis and General Lee both advocated the extension of 
freedom to such of the slaves as would volunteer, and this was 
clearly the only system of enrollment upon which they could 
be efficiently employed. But even though the slave-holding 
interest had not thus emasculated the measure, by refusing 
emancipation, it was too late to hope for any results of impor- 
tance. The bill was not passed until three weeks before the 
fall of Richmond. 

But Congress found congenial employment in giving vent 
to its partisan malignity, by the adoption of measures plainly 
designed to humiliate the Executive, and with no expectation 
of improving the condition of the Confederacy, which most 
of its members believed to be already beyond reclamation. 
In this spirit was dictated the measure making General Lee 
virtually a military dictator, and that expressing want of con- 
fidence in the cabinet. All of this action of Congress was 
extra-official, and subversive of the constitutional authority 
of the Executive, but it utterly failed in its obvious design. 

President Davis never made a more noble display of feeling, 
than in his response to the resolution of the Virginia Legisla- 
ture recommending the appointment of General Lee to the 
command of the armies of the Confederacy. Said he : " The 
opinion expressed by the General Assembly in regard to Gen- 
eral R. E. Lee has my full concurrence. Virginia can not 
have a higher regard for him, or greater confidence in his 
character and ability, than is entertained by me. When Gen- 



604 LIFE OF JEFFERSON DAVIS. 

eral Lee took command of the Army of Northern Virginia, he 
was in command of all the armies of the Confederate States 
by my order of assignment. He continued in this general 
command, as well as in the immediate command of the Army 
of Northern Virginia, as long as I could resist his opinion 
that it was necessary for him to be relieved from one of these 
two duties. Ready as he has ever shown himself to be to per- 
form any service that I desired him to render to his country, 
he left it for me to choose between his withdrawal from the 
command of the army in the field, and relieving him of the 
general command of all the armies of the Confederate States. 
It was only when satisfied of this necessity that I came to the 
conclusion to relieve him from the general command, believ- 
ing that the safety of the capital and the success of our cause 
depended, in a great measure, on then retaining him in the 
command in the field of the Army of Northern Virginia. On 
several subsequent occasions, the desire, on my part to enlarge 
the sphere of General Lee's usefulness, has led to renewed 
consideration of the subject, and he has always expressed his 
inability to assun\e command of other armies than those now 
confided to him, unless relieved of the immediate command in 
the field of that now opposed to General Grant." 

A striking indication of the feverish condition of the pub- 
lic mind of both sections, during the last winter of the war, 
was the ready credence given to the most extravagant and im- 
probable rumors. Washington correspondents of Northern 
newspapers declared that the air of the Federal capital was 
" thick with rumors of negotiation." At Richmond this cred- 
ulous disposition was even more marked. Men were found as 
late as the middle of March, who believed that President Da- 
vis had actually formed an alliance, offensive and defensive, 



THE "blaie mission." 605 

■with the French Emperor. In the month of January the 
rumors as to peace negotiations assumed a more definite shape, 
in the arrival of Mr. Francis P. Blair at the Confederate 
capital. 

It is remarkable that the "Blair mission" and its sequel, 
the Hampton Roads conference, though palpably contemplat- 
ing only the discussion of such mere generalities as belong to 
other efforts at peace at different stages of the war, and, indeed, 
introducing nothing in the shape of formal negotiation, should 
have been dignified as a most important episode. Equally 
remarkable, in view of the published proceedings of the Hamp- 
ton Roads conference, is the disposition to censure President 
Davis for having designedly interposed obstacles to the con- 
summation of peace. Mr. Blair visited Richmond by the 
permission of President Lincoln, but without any official au- 
thority, and without having the objects of his mission com- 
mitted to paper. In short, Mr. Blair's mission had no official 
character, and he came to Richmond to prevail upon Mr. 
Davis to encourage, in some manner, preliminary steps to 
negotiation. In his interviews with the Confederate President, 
IMr. Blair disclaimed the official countenance of the Federal 
authorities for the objects of his visit. It was known to the 
world, that Mr. Davis, upon repeated occasions, had avowed 
his desire for peace upon any terms consistent with the honor 
of his country, and that he would not present difficulties as 
to forms in the attainment of that object, at this critical pe- 
riod. Hence, despite the unauthorized nature of Mr. Blair's 
conciliatory efforts, Mr. Davis gave him a letter, addressed 
to himself, avowing the willingness of the Confederate authori- 
ties to begin negotiations, to send or receive commissioners 
authorized to treat, and to "renew the effort to enter into a 



606 LIFE OF JEFFERSON DAVIS. 

conference, with a view to secure peace between the two coun- 
tries." 

Mr. Lincoln, in a letter to Mr. Blair, acknowledged having 
read Mr. Davis' note, and avowed his readiness to receive an 
agent from Mr. Davis, or from the authority resisting the 
Federal Government, to confer with him informally, with the 
view of restoring peace to the people of " our common coun- 
try." 

The commissioners appointed by Mr. Davis, after this notifi- 
cation, were Vice-President Stephens, Senator Hunter, and 
Judge Campbell. The conference was held on a steamer lying 
in Hampton Roads, between the three Confederate commission- 
ers and Messrs. Lincoln and Seward. By both sides the inter- 
view was treated as informal ; there were neither notes nor 
secretaries, nor did the interview assume any other shape than 
an irregular conversation. During the four hours of desul- 
tory discussion, there was developed no basis of negotiation, 
no ground of possible agreement. Mr. Lincoln declared that 
he would consent to no truce or suspension of hostilities, ex- 
cept upon the single condition of the disbandment of the Con- 
federate forces, and the submission of the revolted States to the 
authority of the Union. The result was simply the assertion, 
in a more arrogant form, of the Federal ultimatum — the un- 
conditional submission of the South, its acquiescence in all the 
unconstitutional legislation of the Federal Congress respecting 
slavery, including emancipation, and the right to legislate upon 
the-subject of the relations between the white and black pop- 
ulations of each State. Mr. Lincoln, moreover, refused to treat 
with the authorities of the Confederate States, or with the 
States separately ; declared that the consequences of the estab- 
lishment of the Federal authority would have to be accepted, 



THE " BLAIR MISSION." 607 

and declined giving any guarantee whatever, except an in- 
definite assurance of a liberal use of the pardoning power, 
towards those who were assumed to have made themselves 
liable to the pains and penalties of the laws of tlic United 
States. 

The statement of the Confederate commissioners, and all the 
known facts of the transaction, demonstrate, without argument, 
the injustice of holding Mr. Davis responsible, to any extent, 
for the results of the Hampton Roads conference. With one 
voice the South accepted the result as establishing the purpose 
of the Federal Government to exact "unconditional submis- 
sion," as the only condition of peace, and scorned the insolent 
demand of the enemy. If the South had shown itself willing 
to accept the terms of the Federal Government, or if Mr. 
Lincoln had suggested other propositions than that of uncon- 
ditional submission, then only could Mr. Davis be charged 
with having presented obstacles to the termination of the war. 

Nor is it to be assumed that the terms of his letter to Mr. 
Blair, referring to his desire for peace between the " two coun- 
tries," precluded negotiation upon the basis of reunion. His lan- 
guage was that of a proper diplomacy, which should not com- 
mit the error of yielding in advance to the demands of an 
enemy, then insolent in what he regarded as the assurance of 
certain victory. Tlie period was opportune for magnanimity 
on the part of the North, but not propitious for the display of 
over-anxious concession by the South. Mr. DaVis was at this 
time anxious for propositions from the Federal Government, 
for, while he had not despaired of the Confederacy, he was 
deeply impressed with the increasing obstacles to its success. 
His frequent declaration, at this time, was : " I am solicitous 
only for the good of the people, and am indifferent as to the 



608 LIFE OF JEFFERSON DAVIS. 

forms by which the public interests are to be subserved/' 
Indeed, the Federal authorities had ample assurance that Mr. 
Davis would present any basis of settlement, Avhicli might be 
offered, to the several States of the Confederacy for their indi- 
vidual action. Nor did he doubt the acceptance of reconstruc- 
tion, without slavery even, by several of the States — an event 
which would have left the Confederacy too weak for further 
resistance. 

In view of the consistent record of INIr. Davis, during the 
entire period of the war, to promote the attainment of peace, 
it is remarkable that there should ever have been an allega- 
tion of a contrary disposition. In a letter, written in 1864, 
to Governor Vance, of North Carolina, he conclusively stated 
his course upon the subject of peace. Said Mr. Davis, in this 
letter: 

" We have made three distinct efforts to communicate with the 
authorities at Washington, and have been invariably unsuccessful. 
Commissioners were sent before hostilities were begun, and the 
Washington Government refused to receive them or hear what 
they had to say. A second time, I sent a military officer with a 
communication addressed by myself to President Lincoln. The 
letter was received by General Scott, who did not permit the offi- 
cer to see Mr, Lincoln, but promised that an answer would be 
sent. No answer has ever been received. The third time, a few 
months ago, a gentleman was sent, whose position, character, and 
reputation were such as to ensure his reception, if the enemy 
were not determined to receive no proposals whatever from the 
Government. Vice-President Stephens made a patriotic tender 
of his services in the hope of being able to promote the cause 
of humanity, and, although little belief was entertained of his suc- 
cess, I cheerfully yielded to his suggestions, that the experiment 



MR. DAVIS' VIEWS AS TO PEACE. 609 

stould be tried. The enemy refused to let him pass through 
their lines or hold any conference with them. He was stopped 
before he ever reached Fortress Monroe, on his way to Wash- 
ington. . ... 

" If we will break up our Government, dissolve the Confederacy, 
disband our armies, emancipate our slaves, take an oath of alle- 
giance, binding ourselves to obedience to him and of disloyalty to 
our own States, he proposes to pardon us, and not to plunder us of 
any thing more than the property already stolen from us, and such 
slaves as still remain. In order to render his proposals so insulting 
as to secure their rejection, he joins to them a promise to support 
with his army one-tenth of the people of any State who will at- 
tempt to set up a government over the other nine-tenths, thus 
seeking to sow discord and suspicion among the people of the sev- 
eral States, and to excite them to civil war in furtherance of his 
ends. I know well it would be impossible to get your people, if 
they possessed full knowledge of these facts, to consent that propo- 
sals should now be made by us to those who control the Govern- 
ment at Washington. Your own well-known devotion to the great 
cause of liberty and independence, to which we have all committed 
whatever we have of earthly possessions, would induce you to take 
the lead in repelling the bare thought of abject submission to the 
enemy. Yet peace on other terms is now impossible." 

The spirit in which the South received the results of the 
Hampton Roads conference is to be correctly Cbtiniated by the 
following extract from a Richmond newspaper, of date Feb- 
ruary 15, 1865 : 

" The world can again, for the hundredth time, see conclusive 

evidence in the history and sequel of the ' Blair mission,' the 

blood-guiltiness of the enemy, and their responsibility for the 

ruin, desolation, and suffering which have followed, and will yet 

39 



610 LIFE OF JEFFERSON DAVIS. 

follow, their heartless attempts to subjugate and destroy an inno- 
cent people. The South again wins honor from the good, the 
magnanimous, the truly brave every-where by her efforts to stop 
the effusion of blood, save the lives and the property of her own 
citizens, and to stop, too, the slaughter of the victims of the 
enemy's cruelty, which has forced or deceived them into the ranks 
of his armies. We have lost nothing by our efforts in behalf of 
peace; for, waiving all consideration of the reanimation and re- 
union of our people, occasioned by Lincoln's haughty rejection of 
our commissioners, we have added new claims upon the sympathy 
and respect of the world and posterity, which will not fail to be 
remembered to our honor, in the history of this struggle, even 
though we should finally perish in it. The position of the South 
at this moment is indeed one which should stamp her as the 
champion, not only of popular rights and self-government, which 
Americans have so much cherished, but as the champion of the 
spirit of humanity in both sections ; for it can not be supposed 
that we have all the sorrows as well as sufferings of this war to 
endure, and that there are no desolate homes, no widows and or- 
phans, no weeds nor cypress in the enemy's country 

"One fact is certain, that whatever Seward's design may have 
been, and whatever its success may be, the Confederacy has derived 
an immediate advantage from the visit of our commissioners to 
Fortress Monroe. Nothing could have so served to reanimate the 
courage and patriotism of our people, as his attempted imposition 
of humiliation upon us. Lincoln will hear no more talk of 
' peace ' and ' negotiation ' from the Southern side, for now we are 
united as one man in the purpose of self-preservation and venge- 
ance, and it may not be long before his people, now rioting in 
excessive exultation over successes really valueless, and easily 
counter-balanced by one week of prosperous fortune for the South, 
will tremble at the manifestation of the spirit which they have 
aroused." 



DELUSIVE INDICATIONS. 611 

But the evidences of popular reanimation in the South were 
delusive. For a brief moment there was a spirit of fierce and 
almost desperate resolution. At a meeting held in the African 
church, in Richmond, President Davis delivered one of his most 
eloquent popular orations, and the enthusiasm was perhaps 
greater than upon any similar occasion during the war. But 
popular feeling soon lapsed into the sullen despondency, from 
which it had been temporarily aroused by the unparalleled 
insult of the enemy. Yet the ulthnatum of Mr. Lincoln, and 
the declared will of the South, left President Davis no other 
policy than a continuation of the struggle, with a view to the 
best attainable results. Upon this course he was now fully 
resolved, looking to the future with serious apprehension, not 
altogether unrelieved by hope. 

The report of the Hampton Roads conference and its results, 
was made by President Davis, to Congress, on the 5th Feb- 
ruary : 

" To the Senate and House of Representatives 

of the Confederate States of America : 

" Having recently received a written notification, vrhieh satisfied 
me that the President of the United States was disposed to confer, 
informally, with unofficial agents that might be sent by me, with a 
view to the restoration of peace, I requested Hon. Alexander H. 
Stephens, Hon. R. M. T. Hunter, and Hon. Jobn A. Campbell, to 
proceed through our lines, to hold a conference with Mr. Lincoln, 
or such persons as he might depute to represent him. 

" I herewith submit, for the information of Congress, the report 
of the eminent citizens above named, showing that the enemy re- 
fuse to enter into negotiations with the Confederate States, or any 
one of them separately, or to give our people any other terms or 
guarantees than those which a conqueror may grant, or permit us 



612 LIFE OP JEFFERSON DAVIS. 

to have peace on any other basis than our unconditional submission 
to their rule, coupled with the acceptance of their recent legisla- 
tion, including an amendment to the Constitution for the emancipa- 
tion of negro slaves, and with the right, on the part of the Federal 
Congress, to legislate on the subject of the relations between the 
white and black population of each State. 

"Such is, as I understand, the effect of the amendment to the 
Constitution, which has been adopted by the Congress of the United 

States. 

"JEFFERSON DAVIS. 

" Executive Office, Feb. 5, 1865." 



"Richmond, Va., February 5, 1865. 
*' To the President of the Confederate States — 

"Sir: Under your letter of appointment of 28th ult., we pro- 
ceeded to seek an informal conference with Abraham Lincoln, 
President of the United States, upon the subject mentioned in 
your letter. 

" The conference was granted, and took place on the 3d inst., 
on board a steamer anchored in Hampton Roads, where we met 
President Lincoln and Hon. Mr. Seward, Secretary of State of the 
United States. It continued for several hours, and was both full 
and explicit. 

" We learned from them that the Message of President Lincoln 
to the Congress of the United States, in December last, explains 
clearly and distinctly, his sentiments as to terms, conditions, and 
method of proceeding by which peace can be secured to the peo- 
ple, and we were not informed that they would be modified or 
altered to obtain that end. We understood from him that no 
terms or proposals of any treaty or agreement looking to an ulti- 
mate settlement would be entertained or made by him with the 
authorities of the Confederate States, because that would be a rec- 
ognition of their existence as a separate power, which, under no 



OFFICIAL CORRESPONDENCE. 613 

circumstances, would be done; aud, for like reasons, that no such 
terms would be entertained by him from States separately ; that no 
extended truce or armistice, as at present advised, would be granted 
or allowed without satisfactory assurance, in advance, of complete 
restoration of the authority of the Constitution and laws of the 
United States over all places within the States of the Confederacy ; 
that whatever consequences may follow from the reestablishmeut 
of that authority must be accepted, but the individuals subject to 
pains and penalties, under the laws of the United States, might 
rely upon a very liberal use of the power confided to him to remit 
those pains and penalties if peace be restored. 

" During the conference the proposed amendments to the Con- 
stitution of the United States, adopted by Congress on the 31st 
ult., wei'e brought to our notice. These amendments provide that 
neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except for crime, should 
exist within the United States or any place within their jurisdic- 
tion, and that Congress should have the power to enforce this 
amendment by appropriate legislation. 

" Of all the correspondence that preceded the conference herein 
mentioned, and leading to the same, you have heretofore been in- 
formed. Very respectfully, your obedient servants, 

"ALEX. H. STEPHENS, 
"R. M. T. HUNTER, 
"J. A. CAMPBELL." 



614 LIFE OF JEFFERSON DAVIS. 



CHAPTER XXI. 

MILITARY OPERATIONS IN THE EARLY PART OF 1865 — LAST PHASE OF THE MILI- 
TARY POLICY OF THE CONFEDERACY — THE PLAN TO CRUSH SHERMAN — CALM 

DEMEANOR OF PRESIDENT DAVIS CHEERFULNESS OF GENERAL LEE THE 

QUESTION AS TO THE SAFETY OF RICHMOND WEAKNESS OF GENERAL LEE^S 

ARMY PREPARATIONS TO EVACUATE RICHMOND BEFORE THE CAJIPAIGN 

OPENED A NEW BASIS OF HOPE WHAT WAS TO BE REASONABLY ANTICI- 
PATED — THE CONTRACTED THEATRE OF WAR THE FATAL DISASTERS AT 

PETERSBURG MR. DAVIS RECEIVES THE INTELLIGENCE WHILE IN CHURCH — 

RICHMOND EVACUATED — PRESIDENT DAVIS AT DANVILLE — HIS PROCLAMATION 
— SURRENDER OP LEE — DANVILLE EVACUATED — THE LAST OFFICIAL INTER- 
VIEW OF MR. DAVIS WITH GENERALS JOHNSTON AND BEAUREGARD — HIS AR- 
RIVAL AT CHARLOTTE — INCIDENTS AT CHARLOTTE — REJECTION OF THE SHER- 
MAN-JOHNSTON SETTLEMENT MR. DAVIs' INTENTIONS AFTER THAT EVESTT 

HIS MOVEMENTS SOUTHWARD — INTERESTING DETAILS CAPTURE OF MR. DA- 
VIS AND HIS IMPRISONMENT AT FORTRESS MONROE. * 

MILITARY operations in the first three months of 1865 
tended to the concentration of forces upon the greatly-re- 
duced theatre of war, which was now confined mainly to Virginia 
and North Carolina. The developments of each day indicated 
the near approach of critical and decisive events. With Sher- 
man sweeping through the Carolinas, and the Confederate 
forces retiring before him ; with Wilmington, the last port of 
the Confederacy, captured, and a new base thus secured for a 
column auxiliary to Sherman, it was evident that but a short 
time would develope a grand struggle, which should not only 
decide the fate of Richmond, but which should involve nearly 
the entire force at the command of the Confederacy^ 



COXFEDERATE PLANS. 615 

The last definite phase of the military policy of the Confed- 
erate authorities, previous to the fall of the capital, was the 
design of concentration for the destruction of Sherman, who 
was rapidly approaching the Virginia border. This would, of 
course, necessitate the abandonment of Richmond, with a view 
to the junction of the armies of Lee and Johnston. The latter 
officer, with the remnant of Hood's army, and other fragment- 
^ary commands, confronted Sherman's array — forty thousand 
strong — with a force of about twenty-five thousand men. 
When Lee's army should unite with Johnston's, the Confed- 
erate strength would approximate sixty thousand — a force 
ample to overwhelm Sherman. 

The success of this design was mainly dependent upon the 
question of the time of its execution. If the concentration 
against Sherman should be attempted prematurely, that Fed- 
eral commander would be warned of his danger in time to 
escape to the coast, or to retire until reenforcements from 
Grant should reach him. It was thus highly important that 
Sherman should advance sufficiently far to preclude his safe 
retreat, while, at the same time, the distance between Lee and 
Johnston should be shortened. On the other hand, if the 
concentration should be delayed too long, General Grant might, 
by a vigorous assault upon Lee, either hold the latter in his 
works at Petersburg, or cut off his retreat, either of which 
events would defeat the proposed concentration. In the se- 
quel, the activity of Grant, his overwhelming numbers, and 
the timely arrival of Sheridan's cavalry, after the latter had 
failed in his original design against Lynchburg and the Con- 
federate communications, precipitated a catastrophe, which not 
only prevented the consummation of this design, but speedily 
proved fatal to the Confederacy. 



616 LIFE OF JEFFERSON DAVIS. 

There was nothing in the cahn exterior of President Davis, 
during the days of early spring, to indicate that he was then 
meditating an abandonment of that capital, for the safety of 
which he had striven during four years of solicitude, and in 
the defense of which the flower of Southern chivalry had been 
sacrificed. There was no abatement of that self-possession, 
which had so often proven invulnerable to the most trying ex- 
igencies ; no alteration of that commanding mien, so typical of 
resolution and self-reliance. To the despondent citizens of 
Richmond, there was something of re-assurance in the firm and 
elastic step of their President, as he walked, usually unattended, 
through the Capitol Square to his office. His responses to the 
respectful salutations of the children, who never failed to testify 
their affection for him, were as genial and playful as ever, and 
the slaves still boasted of the cordiality with which he ac- 
knowledged their civility. 

A similar cheerfulness was observed in General Lee. In 
the last months of the war, it was a frequent observation that 
General Lee appeared more cheerful in manner than upon 
many occasions, when his army was engaged in its most suc- 
cessful campaigns. Hon. William C Rives was quoted in the 
Confederate Congress, as having said that General Lee " had 
but a single thing to fear, and that was the spreading of a 
causeless despondency among the people. Prevent this, and 
all will be well. We have strength enough left to win our 
independence, and we are certain to win it, if people do not 
give way to foolish despair." --n^ 

From the beginning of winter, the possibility of holding 
Richmond was a matter of grave doubt to President Davis. 
He had announced to the Confederate Congress that the cap- 
ital was now menaced by greater perils than ever. Yet a 



PEEPAEATIONS TO EVACUATE RICHMOND. 617 

proper consideration of the moral consequences of a loss of the 
capital, not less than of the material injury which must result 
from the loss of the manufacturing facilities of Richmond, dic- 
tated the contemplation of its evacuation only as a measure 
of necessity. When, however, the dilatory and vacillating ac- 
tion of Congress baffled the President in all his vigorous and 
timely measures, there was hardly room to doubt that the al- 
ternative was forced upon General Lee of an early retreat or 
an eventual surrender. When spring opened, the Army of 
Northern Virginia was reduced to less than thirty-five thou- 
sand men. With this inadequate force. General Lee was hold- 
ing a line of forty miles, against an array nearly one hundred 
and seventy-five thousand strong. A prompt conscription of 
the slaves, upon the basis of emancipation, the President and 
General Lee believed would have put at rest all anxiety for 
the safety" of Richmond. But when the threadbare discus- 
sions and timid spirit of Congress foretold the failure of this 
measure, preparations were quietly begun for a retirement to 
an interior line of defense. 

These preparations were commenced early in February, and 
were conducted with great caution. Mr. Davis did not believe 
that the capture of Richmond entailed the loss of the Confed- 
erate cause should Lee's and Johnston's armies remain intact. 
That it diminished the probability of ultimate success was ob- 
vious, but there was the anticipation of a new basis of hope, 
in events not improbable, could Lee's army be successfully 
carried from Petersburg. A thorough defeat of Sherman 
would obviously recover at once the Carolinas and Georgia, 
and give to the Confederacy a more enlarged jurisdiction and 
more easy subsistence, than it had controlled for more than a 
year. A reasonable anticipation was the re-awakening of the 



618 LIFE OF JEFFERSON DAVIS. 

patriotic spirit of the people, and the return of thousands of 
absentees to the army, as the immediate results of a decisive 
defeat of Sherman. Then, even if it should prove that the 
Confederacy could not cope with the remaining armies of the 
enemy, it was confidently believed that the North, rather than 
endure the sacrifices and doubts of another campaign, would 
offer some terms not inconsistent with the honor of the South 
to accept. At all events, resistance must continue until the 
enemy abated his haughty demand of unconditional submis- 
sion. 

The movements of Sherman and Johnston reduced the the- 
atre upon which the crisis was enacting to very contracted 
limits. The fate of the Confederacy was to be decided in the 
district between the Roanoke and James Rivers, and the At- 
lantic Ocean and the Alleghanies. General Grant, fully ap- 
prised of the extremities to which Lee was reduced, for weeks 
kept his army in readiness to intercept the Confederate re- 
treat. It was greatly to the interest of the Federal com- 
mander that Lee should be held at Petersburg, since his su- 
perior numbers must eventually give him possession of the 
Southside Railroad, which was vital to Lee not only as a 
means of subsistence, but as an avenue of escape. But Gen- 
eral Grant, sooner than he anticipated, found an opportunity 
for a successful detachment of a competent force against the 
Southside Railroad by the arrival of Sheridan's cavalry, ten 
thousand strong — as splendid a body of cavalry as ever took 
the field. The swollen condition of James River had pre- 
vented the consummation of Sheridan's original mission, which 
was, after he had effectually destroyed all Lee's communica- 
tions northward and westward, to capture Lynchburg, and 
thence to pass rapidly southward to Sherman. Finding the 



lee's defeat. 619 

river impassable, Sheridan retired in the direction of Rich- 
mond, passed Lee's left wing, crossed the Pamunkey River, 
and, by the 25th of March, had joined Grant before Peters- 
burg. General Grant was not slow in the employment of this 
timely accession. 

The fatal disaster of Lee's defeat at Petersburg was the 
battle of Five Forks, on the 1st of April, by which the enemy 
secured the direct line of retreat to Danville. For, without 
that event, the fate of Petersburg and Richmond was deter- 
mined by the result of Grant's attack upon the Confederate 
centre on the 2d of April. With all the roads on the south- 
ern bank of the Appomattox in the possession of the enemy, 
there remained only the line of retreat upon the northern side, 
which was the longer route, while the pursuing enemy had all 
the advantage of the interior line. But for that disadvantage, 
Lee's escape would have been assured, and the Confederate 
line of defense reestablished near the Roanoke River. 

President Davis received the intelligence of the disasters 
while seated in his pew in St. Paul's Church, where he had 
been a communicant for nearly three years. The momentous 
intelligence was conveyed to him by a brief note from the 
War Department. General Lee's dispatch stated that his lines 
had been broken, and that all eiforts to restore them had 
proven unsuccessful. He advised preparations for the evacu- 
ation of the city during the night, unless, in the meantime, 
he should advise to the contrary. Mr. Davis immediately left 
the church with his usual calm manner and measured tread.* 
The tranquil demeanor of the President conveyed no indica- 

* The author has seen an absurd statement, made without any inquiry 
into the facts, that Mr. Davis was seen to turn "ghastly white" at the 
moment of receivinff the intelligence of the disaster at Petersburg. It is 



620 LIFE OF JEFFERSON DAVIS. 

tion of the nature of the communication. But the incident 
was an unusual one, and, by the congregation, most of whom 
had for days been burdened with the anticipations of disaster, 
the unspoken intelligence was, to some extent, correctly in- 
terpreted. 

The family of Mr. Davis had been sent southward some days 
before, and he was, therefore, under the necessity of little prepa- 
ration for departure. Though his concern was obvious, his calm- 
ness was remarkable. In this trying exigency in his personal 
fortunes, he showed anxiety only for the fate of the country, 
and sympathy for that devoted community from which he was 
now compelled to separate 

On the night of Sunday, April 2d, 1865, Mr. Davis, at- 
tended by liis personal staff, members of his cabinet, and 
attaches of the several departments, left Richmond, which 
then ceased forever to be the capital of the Southern Confed- 
eracy. In a few hours after, that city, whose defense will be 
more famous than that of Saragossa, whose capture was for 
four years the aspiration of armies aggregating more than a 
million of men, became the spoil of a conqueror, and the 
scene of a conflagration, in which " all the hopes of the South- 
ern Confederacy were consumed in one day, as a scroll in the 
fire." 

In accordance with his original design of making a new 
defensive line near the Roanoke River, Mr. Davis jDroceeded 

simply one of a thousand other reckless calumnies, with as little founda- 
tion as the rest. 

We do not feel called upon here to relate the details of the evacuation 
of Richmond and the occupation of the city by the Federal army. They 
are, doubtless, known to every intelligent reader, and we are here spe- 
cially concerned only in the movements of Mr. Davis. 



PROCLAMATION. 621 

directly to Danville. His determination was to maintain the 
Confederate authority upon the soil of Virginia, until driven 
from it by force of arms. Reaching Danville on the 3d of 
April, he issued, two days afterwards, the following proclama- 
tion: 

"D.VNVILLE, Va., April 5, 1865. 

" The General-in-Chief found it necessary to make such move- 
ments of his troops as to uncover the capital. It would be un- 
wise to conceal the moral and material injury to our cause result- 
ing from the occupation of our capital by the enemy. It is equally 
unwise and unworthy of us to allow our own energies to falter, 
and our eflForts to become relaxed under reverses, however calami- 
tous they may be. For many months the largest and finest army 
of the Confederacy, under a leader whose presence inspires equal 
confidence in the troops and the people, has been greatly tram- 
meled by the necessity of keeping constant watch over the ap- 
proaches to the capital, and has thus been forced to forego more 
than one opportunity for promising enterprise. It is for us, my 
countrymen, to show by our bearing under reverses, how wretched 
has been the self-deception of those who have believed us less 
able to endure misfortune with fortitude than to encounter danger 
with courage. 

"We have now entered upon a new phase of the struggle. Re- 
lieved from the necessity of guarding particular points, our army 
will be free to move from point to point, to strike the enemy in 
detail far from his base. Let us but will it, and we are free. 

" Animated by that confidence in your spirit and fortitude which 
never yet failed me, I announce to you, fellow-countrymen, that 
it is my purpose to maintain your cause with my whole heart and 
soul ; that I will never consent to abandon to the enemy one foot 
of the soil of any of the States of the Confederacy; that Virginia — 
noble State — whose ancient renown has been eclipsed by her still 



622 LIFE OF JEFFERSON DAVIS. 

more glorious recent history ; whose bosom has been bared to re- 
ceive the main shock of this war; whose sons and daughters have 
exhibited heroism so sublime as to render her illustrious in all 
time to come — that Virginia, with the help of the people, and by 
the blessing of Providence, shall be held and defended, and no 
peace ever be made with the infamous invaders of her terri- 
tory. 

" If, by the stress of numbers, we should be compelled to a tem- 
porary withdrawal from her limits, or those of any other border 
State, we will return until the baffled and exhausted enemy shall 
abandon in despair his endless and impossible task of making 
slaves of a people resolved to be free. 

" Let us, then, not despond, my countrymen, but, relying on God, 
meet the foe with fresh defiance, and with unconquered and uncon- 
querable hearts. 

"JEFFERSON DAVIS." 

Meanvt^hile, some semblance of order in several of the de- 
partments of government was established, though, of course, 
the continued occupation of Danville was dependent upon the 
safety of Lee's army. Days of anxious suspense, during which 
there was no intelligence from Lee, were passed, until on Mon- 
day, the 10th of April, it was announced that the Army of 
Northern Virginia had surrendered. 

Leaving Danville, Mr. Davis and his party went by railroad 
to Greensboro', North Carolina. Here Mr. Davis met Gen- 
erals Johnston and Beauregard. Consultation with these two 
officers soon revealed to Mr. Davis their convictions of the 
hopelessness of a farther protraction of the struggle. 

Ex-Secretary Mallory gives the following narrative of the 
last official interview of President Davis with Generals John- 
ston and Beauregard : 



DAVIS' INTERVIEW WITH JOHNSTON. 623 

"At 8 o'clock that evening the cabinet, with the exception of 
Mr. Trenholm, whose illness prevented his attendance, joined the 
President at his room. It was a small apartment, some twelve by 
sixteen feet, containing a bed, a few chairs, and a table, with writ- 
ing materials, on the second floor of the small dwelling of Mrs. 
John Taylor Wood ; and a few minutes after eight the two 
generals entered. 

" The uniform habit of President Davis, in cabinet meetings, 
was to consume some little time in general conversation before 
entering upon the business of the occasion, not unfrequently in- 
troducing some anecdote or interesting episode, generally some 
reminiscence of the early life of himself or others in the army, 
the Mexican war, or his Washington experiences ; and his manner 
of relating and his application of them were at all times very 
happy and pleasing. 

" Few men seized more readily upon the sprightly aspects of any 
transaction, or turned them to better account; and his powers of 
mimicry, whenever he condescended to exercise them, were irre- 
sistible. Upon this occasion, at a time when the cause of the 
Confederacy was hopeless, when its soldiers were throwing away 
their arms and flying to their homes, when its Government, 
sti'ipped of nearly all power, could not hope to exist beyond a 
few days more, and when the enemy, more powerful and exultant 
than ever, was advancing upon all sides, true to his habit, he in- 
troduced several subjects of conversation, not connected with the 
condition of the country, and discussed them as if at some pleasant 
ordinary meeting. After a brief time thus spent, turning to Gen- 
eral Johnston, he said, in his usual quiet, grave way, when enter- 
ing upon matters of business : ' I have requested you and General 
Beauregard, General Johnston, to join us this evening, that we 
might have the benefit of your views upon the situation of the 
country. Of course, we all feel the magnitude of the moment. 
Our late disasters are terrible, but I do not think we should regard 



624 LIFE OF JEFFEESON DAVIS. 

them as fatal. I think we can whip the enemy yet, if our people 
will turn out. We must look at matters calmly, however, and see 
what is left for us to do. Whatever can be done must be done at 
once. We have not a day to lose.' A pause ensued, General 
Johnston not seeming to deem himself expected to speak, when 
the President said : ' We should like to hear your views. General 
Johnston.' Upon this the General, without preface or introduc- 
tion — his words translating the expression which his face had worn 
since he entered the room — said, in his terse, concise, demonstrative 
way, as if seeking to condense thoughts that were crowding for 
utterance : ' My views are, sir, that our people are tired of the war, 
feel themselves whipped, and will not fight.'l^ Our country is over- 
run, its military resources greatly diminished, while the enemy's 
military power and resources were never greater, and may be in- 
creased to any desired extent. We can not place another large 
army in the field ; and, cut off as we are from foreign intercourse, 
I do not see how we could maintain it in fighting condition if we 
had it. My men are daily deserting in large numbers, and are 
taking my artillery teams to aid their escape to their homes. 
Since Lee's defeat they regard the war as at an end. If I march 
out of North Carolina, her people will all leave my ranks. It will 
be the same as I proceed south through South Carolina and Georgia, 
and I shall expect to retain no man beyond the by-road or cow- 
path that leads to his house. My small force is melting away like 
snow before the sun, and I am hopeless of recruiting it. We may, 
perhaps, obtain terms which we ought to accept.' 

" The tone and manner, almost spiteful, in which the General 
jerked out these brief, decisive sentences, pausing at every para- 
graph, left no doubt as to his own convictions. When he ceased 
speaking, whatever was thought of his statements — and their im- 
portance was fully understood — they elicited neither comment nor 
inquiry. The President, who, during their delivery, had sat with 
his eyes fixed upon a scrap of paper which he was folding and re- 



DAVLS' INTERVIEW WITH JOHNSTON. 625 

folding abstractedly, and wlio liad listened without a change of 
position or expression, broke the silence by saying, in a low, even 
tone : ' What do you say, General Beauregard ? ' 

"'I concur in all General Johnston has said,' he replied. 

" Another silence, more eloquent of the full appreciation of the 
condition of the country than words could have been, succeeded, 
during which the President's manner was unchanged. 

" After a brief pause he said, without a variation of tone or 
expression, and without raising his eyes from the slip of paper 
between his fingers : ' Well, General Johnston, what do you pro- 
pose? You speak of obtaining terms. You know, of course, that 
the enemy refuses to treat with us. How do you propose to ob- 
tain terms?' 

" ' I think the opposing Generals in the field may arrange 
them.' 

"'Do you think Sherman will treat with you?' 

" ' I have no reason to think otherwise. Such a course would 
be in accordance with military usage, and legitimate.' 

" ' We can easily try it, sir. If we can accomplish any good for 
the country, Heaven knows I am not particular as to foi*ms. How 
will you reach Sherman?' 

" ' I would address him a brief note, proposing an interview to 
arrange terms of surrender and peace, embracing, of course, a ces- 
sation of hostilities during the negotiations.' 

" ' Well, sir, you can adopt this course, though I confess I am 
not sanguine as to ultimate results.' 

"The member of the cabinet before referred to as conversing 
with General Johnston, and who was anxious that his views should 
be promptly carried out, immediately seated himself at the writing- 
table, and, taking up a pen, ofiered to act as the General's aman- 
uensis. At the request of the latter, however, the President dic- 
tated the letter to General Sherman, which was written at once 
upon a half sheet of letter folded as note paper, and signed by 
40 



626 LIFE OF JEFFERSON DAVIS. 

General Jolinston, who took it, and said he ■would send it to 
General Sherman early in the morning, and in a few minutes the 
conference broke up. This note, which was a brief proposition for 
a suspension of hostilities, and a conference with a view to agree- 
ing upon terms of peace, has been published with other letters 
which passed between the two Generals. 

"On or about the 16th of April, the President, his staflF, and 
cabinet left Greensboro' to proceed still further south, with plans 
unformed, clinging to the hope that Johnston and Sherman would 
secure peace and the quiet of the country, but still all doubtful 
of the result, and still more doubtful as to consequences of failure." 

Pendino; the negotiations between Generals Johnston and 
Sherman, Mr. Davis was earnestly appealed to by his attend- 
ants to provide for his own safety, in the event of the failure 
to obtain terms from Sherman. There would have been no 
difficulty in his escaping either across the Mississippi into 
Mexico, or from the Florida coast to the West Indies. Ap- 
parently regardless of his personal safety, he was reluctant to 
contemplate leaving the country under any circumstances. It 
is certain that he would not have entertained the idea of an 
abandonment of any organized body of men yet willing to 
continue in arms for the cause. 

Accompanied by the members of his cabinet. General Cooper, 
and other officers, some of whom were in ambulances, and others 
on horseback, Mr. Davis went from Greensboro' to Lexington. 
Here he spent the night at the residence of an eminent citizen 
of North Carolina. Continuing their journey, the party reached 
Charlotte during the morning of the 18th of April. At this place 
were extensive establishments of the Confederate Government, 
and arrangements had already been made for the accommoda- 
tion of Mr. Davis and his cabinet. During the day of his 



MR. DAVIS AT CHARF.OTTE. 627 

arrival at Charlotte, Mr. Davis received a dispatch from Gen- 
eral Breckinridge — who, in company with Mr. Reagan, had 
returned to Greensboro' to aid the negotiations between John- 
ston and Sherman — announcing the assassination of President 
Lincoln. 

In connection with this event, Mr. Mallory writes as fol- 
lows: 

" To a friend who met him a few minutes after he had received 
it, and who expressed his incredulity as to its truthfulness, Mr. 
Davis replied that, true, it sounded like a canard, but, in such a 
condition of public affairs as the country then presented, a crime 
of this kind might be perpetrated. His friend remarked that the 
news was very disastrous for the South, for such an event would 
substitute for the known humanity and benevolence of Mr. Lin- 
coln a feeling of vindictiveness in his successor and in Congress, 
and that an attempt would doubtless be made to connect the Gov- 
ernment or the people of the South with the assassination. To this 
Mr. Davis replied, sadly : ' I certainly have no special regard for 
Mr. Lincoln, but there are a great many men of whose end I would 
much rather hear than his. I fear it will be disastrous to our 
people, and I regret it deeply.'" 

Mr. Davis remained at Charlotte nearly a week. Meanwhile 
the terms of agreement between Johnston and Sherman were 
received, and by Mr. Davis submitted to the cabinet. At a 
meeting of the cabinet, held on the morning after the propo- 
sitions were received, the written opinions of the various mem- 
bers were concurrent in favor of the acceptance of the Sher- 
man-Johnston settlement. Three days afterwards, Mr. Davis 
was informed by General Johnston of the rejection, by the 
Federal Government, of the proposed settlement, and that he 
could obtain no other terms than those accorded by General 



628 LIFE OF JEFFERSON DAVIS. 

Grant to General Lee. The surrender of General Johnston 
was, of course, conclusive of the Confederate cause east of the 
Mississippi. Whatever Mr. Davis' hopes might have been 
previous to that event, and whatever his determination had 
been in case of disapproval by the Federal Government of 
Sherman's course (a contingency which he anticipated), it was 
plain that Johnston's surrender made resistance to the Federal 
Government east of the Mississippi impracticable. 

Fully recognizing this fact, Mr. Davis was yet far from con- 
templating surrender at discretion. His hope now was to cross 
the Mississippi, carrying with him such bodies of troops as 
were willing to accompany him; these, added to the force of 
Kirby Smith, would make an army respectable in numbers, 
and occupying a country of abundant supplies. In the Trans- 
Mississippi region Mr. Davis would have continued the struggle, 
in the hope of obtaining more acceptable terms than had yet 
been offered. In this expectation he was greatly strengthened 
by the spirit of resistance indicated by bodies of men who had 
refused to lay down their arms with the surrendered armies 
of Lee and Johnston. 

We again quote from the account of Mr. Mallory : 

"No other course now seemed open to Mr. Davis but to leave 
the country, and his immediate advisers urged him to do so with 
the utmost promptitude. Troops began to come into Charlotte, 
however, escaping from Johnston's surrender, and there was much 
talk amongst them of crossing the Mississippi, and continuing the 
war. Portions of Hampton's, Debrell's, Duke's, and Ferguson's 
commands of cavah'j were hourly coming in. They seemed de- 
termined to get across the river, and fight it out ; and, wherever 
they encountered 3Ir. Davis, they cheered, and sought to encour- 
age him. It was evident that he was greatly afibcted by the con- 



MR. mallory's account. 629 

stancy and spirit of these men, find that, regardless of his own 
safety, his thoughts dwelt upon the possibility of gathering to- 
gether a body of troops to make head against the foe and to arouse 
the people to arms. 

" His friends, however, saw the urgent expediency of getting 
further south as rapidly as possible, and, after a week's stay at 
Charlotte, they left, with an escort of some two or three hundred 
cavalry, and, two days afterwards, reached Yorkville, South Caro- 
lina, traveling slowly, and not at all like men escaping from the 
country. 

" In pursuing this route, the party met, near the Catawba River, 
a gentleman, whose plantation and homestead lay about half a mile 
from its banks, and who had come out to meet Mr. Davis, and to 
offer him the hospitality of his house. 

"His dwelling, beautifully situated, and surrounded by ornate 
and cultivated grounds, was reached about 4 o'clock P. M., and 
the charming lady of the mansion, with that earnest sympathy and 
generous kindness which Mr. Davis, in misfortune, never failed to 
receive from Southern women, soon made every man of the party 
forget his cares, and feel, for a time at least, 'o'er all the ills 
of life victorious.' 

"At Yorkville, Colonel Preston and other gentlemen had arranged 
for the accommodation of Mr. Davis and his party at private houses, 
and here they remained one night and part of the next day. 

"A small cavalry escort scouted extensively, and kept Mr. Davis 
advised of the positions of the enemy's forces — to avoid which was 
a matter of some difficulty. With this view, the party from York- 
ville rode over to a point below Clinton, on the Lawrenceville and 
Columbus Railroad, and thence struck off to Cokesboro', on the 
Greenville Railroad. 

"Here the party received the kindest attention at private houses. 
On the evening of his arrival, Mr. Davis received news by a scout 



630 LIFE OF JEFFERSON DAVIS. 

that the enemy's cavalry, in considerable force, was but ten miles 
off, and that he was pressing stock upon all sides; and it was 
deemed advisable to make but a brief stay. 

"At 2 o'clock in the morning Mr. Davis was aroused by another 
scout, who declared that he had left the enemy only ten miles off, 
and that they would be in the town in two or three hours. This 
intelligence infused energy throughout the little party. It was 
composed of men, however, familiar with real, no less than with 
rumored perils; men who had faced danger in too many forms to 
be readily started from their propriety ; and preparations were very 
deliberately made with such force as could be mustered to pay due 
honor to his enterprise. 

" Several hours elapsed without further intelligence of the enemy's 
movements, and at half-past six in the morning the party rode out 
of Cokesboro' toward Abbeville, expecting an encounter at any 
moment, but Abbeville was reached without seeing an enemy. 

" At Abbeville the fragments of disorganized cavalry commands, 
which had thus far performed, in some respects, an escort's duty, 
were found to be reduced to a handful of men anxious only to reach 
their homes as early as practicable, and whose services could not 
further be relied ou. They had not surrendered nor given a parole, 
but they regarded the struggle as terminated, and themselves re- 
lieved from further duty to their officers or the Confederate States, 
and, with a few exceptions, determined to fight no more. They 
rode in couples or in small squads through the country, occasion- 
ally 'impressing' mules and horses, or exchanging their wretched 
beasts for others in better condition; and, outside of a deep and 
universal regret for the failure of their cause, usually expressed by 
the remark that ' The old Confederacy has gone up,' they were as 
gleeful and careless as boys released from school. Almost every 
cross-road witnessed the separation of comrades in arms, who had 
long shared the perils and privations of a terrific struggle, now 
seeking their several homes to resume their duties as peaceful citi- 



MR. malloey's account. 631 

zens. Endeared to each other by their ardent love for a commoa 
cause — a cause which they deemed unquestionably right and just, 
and which, surrendered not to convictions of error, but to the logic 
of arms, was still as true and just as ever — their words of parting, 
few and brief, were words of warm, fraternal affection ; pledges of 
endless regard, and mutual promises to meet again. 

" From information gained here, it was evident that his cavalry 
was making a demonstration; but whether to capture Mr. Davis, or 
simply to expedite his departure from the country, could not be 
determined. The country, or at least those familiar with military 
movements at this period, have doubtless long since satisfied them- 
selves upon this point. 

"To suppose that Mr. Davis and his staff, embracing some eight 
or ten gentlemen, all superbly mounted, and with led horses, could 
ride from Charlotte, N. C, to Washington, Ga., by daylight, over 
the highroads of the country, their coming heralded miles in ad- 
vance by returning Confederate soldiers, without the cognizance 
and consent of the Federal commanders, whose cavalry covered 
the country, would be to detract from all that was known of their 
activity and vigilance. 

" Political considerations, adequate to account for this unmolested 
progress, may readily be imagined. Whether they influenced it is 
only known to those who had the direction of public affairs at the 
time. But be this as it may, Mr. Davis' progress could not well 
have been more public and conspicuous. 

" Mr. Davis, who was more generally known by the soldiers than 
any other man in the Confederacy, was never passed by them with- 
out a cheer, or some warm or kindly recognition or mark of respect. 
The fallen chief of a cause for which they had risked their lives 
and fortunes, and lost every thing but honor, his presence never 
failed to command their respect, and to add a tone of sympathy and 
sadness to the expression of their good wishes for his future. They 
knew not his plans for the future, nor could they conjecture what 



632 LIFE OF JEFFJJRSOX DAVIS. 

fate might have in store for him; but their hearts were with him, 
go where he might. 

" Bronzed and weather-beaten veterans, who, when other hearts 
were sore afraid, still hoped on and fought 'while gleamed the 
sword of noble Robert Lee,' grasped his hand, without the power 
of giving voice to thoughts which their tear-glistening eyes revealed. 
Of such men were the gi'eat masses of the Confederate armies com- 
posed. Firm and inflexible in their convictions of right, and yield- 
ing not their convictions, but their armed maintenance of them 
only, to the stern arbitrament of war, they may be relied upon to 
observe with inviolable faith every pledge and duty to the United 
States, assumed or implied, by their submission or parole. 

" At Abbeville Mr. Davis was again urged by his friends to 
leave the country, either from the southern shores of Florida or 
by crossing the Mississippi and going to Mexico through Texas ; 
but though he listened quietly to all they had to say upon the 
subject, and seemed to acquiesce in their views, he never expressed 
a decided willingness or readiness to do so. 

" To some of his friends it was apparent that his capture was not 
specially sought by the military authorities, and that he had but to 
change his dress and his horse, and to travel with a single friend, 
to pass unrecognized and in safety to the sea-shore, and there 
embark. Hitherto, as has been already said, his coming along his 
selected route was known to the people miles in advance. Schools 
were dismissed that the children might, upon the road-side, greet 
him. Ladies, with fruits and flowers, presented with tears of sym- 
pathy, were seen at the gates of every homestead, far in advance, 
awaiting his approach ; and it was hardly supposable that the gen- 
eral in command, whose spies, and scouts, and cavalry covered the 
country, and were heard of upon all sides, was the only person 
uninformed of Mr. Davis' movements. 

"The assertion that General Sherman, aware of this journey, 
permitted it to facilitate the departure of Mr. Davis and his friends 



ME. mallory's account. 633 

from the country, is not made or designed ; for it is possible that 
his capture was desired and attempted; but the facts are matters 
of history, and are given regardless of the speculations which they 
may justify. 

" The party left Abbeville at 11 o'clock the same night for Wash- 
ington, Geoi'gia, a distance of some forty-five miles, and by riding 
briskly they reached the Savannah River at daylight, crossing it 
upon a pontoon bridge, and rode into "Washington at about 10 
o'clock A. M. Just before leaving Abbeville they learned that a 
body of Federal cavalry was en route to destroy this bridge, and 
might reach it before them, and hence they pushed on vigorously, 
meeting no enemy, but delayed about an hour by mistaking the 
right road. 

" The night was intensely dark, the weather stormy. In approach- 
ing the bridge through the river swamp the guide and Colonel 
Preston Johnston, and another of the party, rode a half mile in 
advance, and the latter encountered a mounted Federal officer. 
The rays of blazing lightwood within a wood-cutter's small cabin 
, fell upon him as he stood motionless beneath a tree, and revealed 
his water-proof riding-coat and the gold band upon his cap. He 
hurriedly inquired, as he listened to the tramp of the coming 
horsemen : 

" ' What troops are these ? ' 

"'What force is this?' 

"'Is this Jeff. Davis' party?' 

"'Yes,' replied the party addressed, while revolving in his mind 
the best course to pursue, ' this is Jeff. Davis' escort of five thou- 
sand men.' 

" The officer vanished in the darkness, and no others were en- 
countered. 

"At Washington it was found that squads of Federal cavalry 
scouts were there. A few were in the town at the time, and Mr. 
Davis was again urged to consult his safety. His family and serv- 



634 LIFE OF JEFFERSON DAVIS. 

ants, with a small train of ambulances, accompanied by his private 
Secretary, Mr. Burton Harrison, had passed through Washington 
twenty-four hours before, and the enemy then only some twenty 
miles distant, and Mr. Davis ascertained that he might readily 
overtake them ; and before adopting any plan to leave the country, 
he desired to see and confer with them. 

" Oil the following morning, with his party somewhat reduced in 
numbers, he left Washington and joined his family. 

'' The circumstance of the capture of Mr. Davis, as given offi- 
cially by General Wilson, were in harmony with that system of 
misrepresentation by which the popular mind was perverted as to 
all he said, and did, and designed. His alleged attempt to escape, 
disguised in female apparel — a naked fiction — served well enough 
for the moment to gratify and amuse the popular mind. Baruum, 
the showman, true to his proclivity for practical falsehood, pre- 
sented to the eyes of Broadway a graphic life-size representation 
of Mr. Davis, thus habited, resisting arrest by Federal soldiers ; 
and many thousands of children, whose wondering eyes beheld it 
will grow to maturity and pass into the grave, retaining the ideas 
thus created as the truth of history. Fortunately, however, his- 
tory rarely leaves her verification wholly to the testimony of envy, 
hatred, malice, or falsehood, but contrives, in her own time and 
method, ways and means to bring truth to her exposition. 

" It has been seen that before the President's proclamation con- 
necting him with the assassination, with every desired opportunity, 
and with every means of escape from the country at his command, 
Mr. Davis refrained from leaving it; and it is very doubtful 
whether, in face of the charge of complicity with this great crime, 
any power on earth could have induced him to leave. 

" The sentiment to which the noble Clement Clay, of Alabama, 
gave utterance, upon learning that he was charged as particeps 
criminis in the assassination doubtless actuated Mr. Davis. Clay 
was able to escape from the country, and was prepared to do so; 



MR. mallory's account. 635 

but when his heroic and loveable wife made known to him this 
charge, with indignation and scorn at its base falsehood breatliiug 
in every tone, he rose quietly, and said : ' Well, my dear wife, 
that puts an end to all my plans of leaving the country. I must 
meet this calumny at once, and will go to Atlanta and surrender 
myself and demand its investigation.' 

" Had Mr. Davis left the country, falsehood and malignity would 
have multiplied asserted proofs of this black charge against him ; 
and the shortcomings, errors, and crimes, perhaps, of others, would 
have been conveniently attributed to the faults of his head or 
heart. But his long captivity, his cruel treatment, the patient, 
passive heroism with which, when powerless otherwise, and strong 
only in honor and integrity, he met his fate, have combined, not 
only to seal the lips of those of his Confederate associates who 
had wrongs, real or fancied, to resent, but to concentrate upon 
him the heartfelt sympathy of the Southern people, and no little 
interest and sympathy wherever heroic endurance of misfortune 
gains consideration among men, 

" His escape from the country and a secure refuge in a foreign 
land, sustained by the respect and affection of the Southern peo- 
ple, were within his own control ; and he might have reasonably 
looked forward to a return to his native State, as a result of a 
change in her political status, at no distant day. But he refrained 
from embracing the opportunities of escape which were his by for- 
tune or by Federal permission. 

" The suggestions of friends as to his personal safety were heard 
with all due consideration, and he manifested none of the airs of 
a would-be political martyr ; and yet it was evident that captivity 
and death had lost with him their terrors in comparison with the 
crushing calamity of a defeat of a cause for whose triumph he had 
been ever ready to lay down his life. 

" The general language and bearing of the people of the country 
through which he passed, their ardent loyalty to the South, their 



636 LIFE OF JEFFERSON DAVIS. 

profound sorrow at tlie failure of her cause, and tlieir warm ex- 
pressions of regard for himself — all confirmatory of the conviction 
that, notwithstanding the odds against her, a thorough and hearty 
union of the people and leaders would have secured her triumph, 
affected him deeply. 

"Throughout his journey he greatly enjoyed the exercise of rid- 
ing and the open air, and decidedly preferred the bivouac to the 
bed-room ; and at such times, reclining against a tree, or stretched 
upon a blanket, with his head, pillowed upon his saddle, and under 
the inspiration of a good cigar, he talked very pleasantly of stir- 
ring scenes of other days, and forgot, for a time, the engrossing 
anxieties of the situation." 

The solicitude of Mr. Davis for the safety of his family led 
to his capture. Several weeks had elapsed since he had parted 
with them, and almost the first positive information that he 
received, made him apprehensive for their safety. In the 
then disorganized condition of the coimtry through which he 
was passing, the inducements to violence and robbery by des- 
perate characters were numerous. Hearing that the route 
which Mrs. Davis was pursuing was infested by marauders, 
he determined to see that his family was out of danger, before 
putting into execution his design of crossing the Mississippi. 
While with his family, INIr. Davis was surprised by a body 
of Federal cavalry, and at the time being unarmed and unat- 
tended by any force competent for resistance, he was made a 
prisoner. On the 19th INIay, 1865, he was j)laced in solitary 
confinement at Fortress Monroe. 



MOTIVE OF ME. DAYIS' ARREST. 637 



CHAPTER XXII. 

MOTIVE OF MR. DAVIs' ARKEST — AJT AFTER-THOUGHT OF STANTON AND THE 
BUREAU OP MILITARY JUSTICE — THE EMBARRASSMENT PRODUCED BY HIS CAP- 
TURE THE INFAMOUS CHARGES AGAINST HIM WHY MR. DAVIS WAS TREATED 

WITH EXCEPTIONAL CRUELTY THE OUTRAGES AND INDIGNITIES OFFERED 

HIM — HIS PATIENT AND HEROIC ENDURANCE OF PERSECUTION — HIS RELEASE 
FROM FORTRESS MONROE — BAILED BY THE FEDERAL COURT AT RICHMOND — 

JOY OF THE COMMUNITY IN CANADA— RE-APPEARANCE BEFORE THE FEDERAL 

COURT — HIS TRIAL AGAIN POSTPONED CONCLUSION. 

4 LL doubt has long since been dispelled as to the motive 
-^-*- of the pursuit and arrest of Mr. Davis- His arrest and 
imprisonment were the after- thought of the saturnine Secre- 
tary of War, and his associate inquisitors of the Bureau of 
Military Justice, at Washington. The details given by Mr. 
Mallory, of the circumstances of Mr. Davis' progress through 
North Carolina, South Carolina, and a part of Georgia, added 
to facts which are yet fresh in the public memory, fully justify 
the conclusion that the Federal authorities connived at his 
supposed purpose to escape the country. The reputation of 
IMr. Lincoln among his countrymen, for humanity as well as 
good sense, renders it extremely probable that such would have 
been his method of avoiding the perplexity which must arise 
from the capture of Mr. Davis. 

Well understanding that the inflamed public sentiment of 
the North, regarding Mr. Davis as a political oifendcr of the 



638 L,IFE OF JEFFERSON DAVIS. 

worst possible character, would not tolerate his immediate re- 
lease, the Federal Government would have served the ends of 
humanity and sound policy by encouraging his escape. On 
the other hand the laws of the United States tolerate pro- 
longed imprisonment only after trial and sentence. Hence 
the arrest of INIr. Davis must open an endless perspective of 
embarrassments. He could not be tried simply as an indi- 
vidual, nor could his punishment for any alleged crime of his 
own, be the sole object to be sought. His arraignment before 
a judicial tribunal, would be the arraignment of the principle 
of State Sovereignty, of the States which had sought to put 
that principle in practice, of the five millions of American 
citizens who had supported it, and who had cheerfully risked 
their lives and earthly possessions 'for its maintenance. 

Nay, more, the trial of Jefferson Davis, upon a charge of 
treason, meant the trial of the North also. Should all efforts 
to convict the South in the person of Mr. Davis, of treason, 
fail, the recoil might well be dreaded by those who instigated 
the war upon the rights and existence of the States. It was 
not to be safely assumed that the legal decision of a constitu- 
tional question, which divided the framers of the Federal Con- 
stitution, would necessarily affirm the party and sectional dog- 
mas upon which the North waged the war. Should secession 
be legally justified, what justification could the North claim, 
that is rightfully denied to Russia in her conduct towards 
Poland? What plea should England need for her outrages 
upon Ireland? With Jefferson Davis acquitted of treason, 
what could the conduct of the North for four years have been, 
but a revelry in blood — the wanton perpetration of a monstrous 
crime? 

In this dilemma the industry of the Bureau of INIilitary 



CALUMNIES. (^ 639 

Justice, which afterwards achieved an immortality of infamy, 
by its record of judicial murders, aided by the ingenuity of 
Stanton, devised a scheme for the arrest of Mr. Davis, upon 
charges designed to cover him and the cause which he repre- 
sented, with everlasting obloquy. Not content with having 
triumphed by superior numbers, in a war of political opinions, 
which in the beginning was declared not to be waged for social 
or political subversion; not content with having settled a 
grave constitutional question, by brute force, in a government 
founded upon the idea of popular consent, the Federal author- 
ities were now made a party to infamous falsehoods, the cir- 
cumstances and results of which have fixed a stigma upon the 
American name. 

Contemporary with the announcement of events, which pro- 
claimed the irretrievable downfall of the Confederacy, were 
the calumnies of the Northern press, under the alleged insi)i- 
ration of Stanton, representing that Mr. Davis was escaping 
with wagons filled with plunder, and with the gold of the 
Richmond banks; and that he had endeavored to escape in the 
concealment of female apparel. No one knew better than those 
who promulgated this paltry defamation, its utter falsity, and 
we would not insult INIr. Davis and the Southern people by 
bestowing consideration upon such palpable calumnies. It 
was not calculated that such a portraiture of one, whose per- 
sonal honor, courage, and manhood had triumphantly endured 
every test, would be accepted by the intelligence even of the 
North. But it nevertheless had an obvious purpose, which 
was well answered. It imposed upon the weak and credulous. 
The besotted and cowardly mobs of the Northern cities, who 
filled the air with clamor for the ''blood of traitors," while the 
men who had conquered the South, were touched with sym- 



^ 



/ 

6.A(K LIFE OF JEFFERSON DAVIS. 



patliy for the misfortunes of foes whom they respected, of 
course eagerly accepted any caricature of Mr. Davis agreeable 
to their own vulgar imaginations. In this manner was con- 
sumTnated the first step in the object of delaying the feeling 
of personal respect, and of sympathy for misfortunes, which 
eventually assert themselves in the masses, for a fallen foe, 
whom it was already resolved to persecute with oppression 
and cruelty previously unknown under the American political 
system. 

/Next came the atrocious proclamation charging Mr. Davis 
with complicity in the assassination of President Lincoln. It 
is safe to say that incidents hitherto prominent by their in- 
famy, will be forgotten by history, in comparison with the 
dastardly criminal intent which instigated that document. 
Circumstances warrant the belief that not one of the conspir- 
ators against the life and honor of Mr. Davis, believed either 
then or now, that the charge had one atom of truth. Had the 
charge been honestly made, it would have been disavowed, 
when its falsity became apparent. But this would not have 
subserved the end of the conspirators, and the poison was per- 
mitted to circulate and rankle, long after the calumny had 
been exploded during the investigations of the military com- 
mission, in the cases of Mrs. Surratt and Captain Wirz. At 
length justice was vindicated by the publication of the con- 
fidential correspondence between Holt and Conover, which dis- 
closed the unparalleled subornation and perjury upon which 
the conspirators relied. Well has it been said that the world 
Avill yet wonder "how it was that a people, passing for civil- 
ized and Christian, should have consigned Jefferson Davis to 
a cell, while they tolerated Edwin M. Stanton as a Cabinet 
IMinister." 



MR. DAVIS' ANTECEDENTS. 641 

We have no desire to dwell upon the details of Mr. Davis' 
long and cruel imprisonment. The story is one over which 
the South has wept tears of agony, at whose recital the civil- 
ized world revolted, and which, in years to come, will mantle 
with shame the cheek of every American citizen who values 
the good name of his country. In a time of profound peace, 
when the last vestige of resistance to Federal authority had 
disappeared in the South, Mr. Davis, wrecked in fortune and 
in health, in violation of every fundamental principle of Amer- 
ican liberty, of justice and humanity, was detained for two 
years, without trial, in close confinement, and, during a large 
portion of this period, treated with all the rigor of a sentenced 
convict. 

But if indeed Mr. Davis was thus to be prejudged as the 
"traitor" and "conspirator" which the Stantons, and Holts, 
and Forneys declared him to be, why should he be selected 
from the millions of his advisers and followers, voluntary par- 
ticipants in his assumed " treason," as the single victim of cru- 
elty, outrage, and indignity? What is there in his antecedents 
inconsistent with the character of a patriotic statesman devoted 
to the promotion of union, fraternity, harmony, and faithful 
allegiance to the Constitution and laws of his country? We 
have endeavored faithfully to trace his distinguished career as 
a statesman and soldier, and at no stage of his life is there to 
be found, either in his conduct or declared opinions, the evi- 
dence of infidelity to the Union as its character and objects 
were revealed to his understanding. Nor is there to be found 
in his personal character any support of that moral turpitude 
which a thousand oracles of falsehood have declared to have 
peculiarly characterized his commission of " treason." 

No tongue and pen were more eloquent than his in describ- 
41 



642 LIFE OF JEFFERSON DAVIS. 

ing the grandeur, glory, and blessings of the Union, and in 
invoking for its perpetuation the aspirations and jjrayers of 
his fellow-citizens. In the midst of passion and tumult, in 
1861, he was conspicuous by his zeal for compromise, and 
for a pacific solution of difficulties. No Southern Senator 
abandoned his seat with so pathetic and regretful an announce- 
ment of the necessity which compelled the step. The sorrow- 
ful tone of his valedictory moistened the eye of every listener, 
and convinced even political adversaries of the sincerity and 
purity of his motives. His elevation to the Presidency of the 
Confederacy was not dictated by the recognition of any sup- 
posed title to leadership in the secession movement. His elec- 
tion was indeed a triumph over the extreme sentiment of the 
South, and was declared by those who opposed it to involve 
a compromise of the exclusive sectionalism which was the 
basis of the new government. His administration of the 
Confederate Government exhibited the same unswerving loy- 
alty to duty, to justice and humanity, which his previous life 
so nobly exemplified. The people of the South alone know 
how steadfastly he opposed the indulgence of vengeance ; how 
he strove, until the last moments of the struggle, to restrain 
the rancor and bitterness so naturally engendered under the 
circumstances. Yet, when Jefferson Davis lay a helpless j^ris- 
oner in the strongest fortress of the Union, with " broad patches 
of skin abraded" by the irons upon his limbs, men were prac- 
tically pardoned who had devoted years of labor to the pur- 
pose of disunion, and had reproached him for not unfurling 
the " black flag." Is not the inference, then, justified that all 
of these tortures and indignities were aimed at the people and 
the cause which his dignity, purity, and genius had so exalted 
in the eyes of mankind? 



EELEASE. 643 

But how impotent are falsehood and malignity to obstruct 
the illumination of truth ! As subornation and perjury proved 
unavailing to convict him of atrocious guilt, so equally has 
persecution failed to accomplish its purpose. To all that shame- 
ful picture of barbarous violence and gratuitous insult ; of in- 
solent espionage and vulgar curiosity ; of the illustrious leader 
of a brave people, whose whole life does not exhibit one act 
of meanness or shame, or one word of untruth, crushed by dis- 
aster, and prostrate with disease, fettered as if he were a des- 
perate felon ; restricted in his diet, and not even permitted a 
change of linen, except by the authority of a military jailer ; 
an object of unrelaxed scrutiny, often driven to his cell by the 
peering curiosity of vulgar men and unsexed women — to all 
this there was but one relief — the patient and constant heroism 
of the sufferer, giving heart to his despairing countrymen, and 
ennobling his own captivity. History furnishes no similar 
instance of patient and dignified endurance of adversity and 
persecution. 

The incidents of Mr. Davis' history since his release from 
Fortress Monroe, do not require detailed narration. For the 
most part they are confined to that domain of privacy which 
decency holds to be inviolable. When two years — wanting a 
few days — from the date of his incarceration had elapsed, Mr. 
Davis was transferred by the military authorities to the cus- 
tody of the Federal civil authorities at Richmond. Here, 
amid the congratulations of friends, and the rejoicings of the 
community, which loves him as it loves but one other — his 
constant friend and compeer in fame — he was released from 
custody under circumstances which are well known. The in- 
terval between his release in May, ^ 1867, and his re-appear- 
ance before the Federal court, at Richmond, in the ensuing 



644 LIFE OF JEFFERSON DAVIS. 

November, was passed by Mr. Davis in Canada. There he 
was the recipient of the respect and sympathy which his charac- 
ter and his sufferings might have been expected to elicit from a 
humane people. At the November term of the Federal court, 
Mr. Davis was again present, with his eminent counsel, await- 
ing trial, and was again released upon recognizance to appear 
on the 25th March, 1868. 

In the face of the close proximity of the event, it would be 
unprofitable to speculate as to the sequel of this third appear- 
ance of Jefferson Davis before a judicial tribunal, to answer 
the charge of tr>.ason. Nor do we propose to add to the brief 
consideration, which has already been given in this volume, 
of the legal and historical question involved in the case of 
Mr. Davis. The subject has been exhausted. The masterly 
expositions by Mr. Davis of the theory of the Federal Govern- 
ment (some of which we have given), are at once the complete 
vindications of himself and his countrymen, and the sufficient 
monuments of his fame. 

But are the issues of the war to be subjected to candid and 
impartial legal adjudication? Will the North approve this 
raising of a doubt as to its own justification, merely in the 
hope of vengeance upon one who is powerless for injury? But 
if there is to be admitted another jurisdiction than that of 
War; if the arbitrament of battle is to be carried to the higher 
tribunal of Law and Public Opinion ; if there is to be a 
trial and not a judicial farce, with a foregone conclusion and a 
prejudged sentence, the South and its late leader will not 
shrink from the verdict. Of this, the world requires no more 
emphatic iteration than that furnished by past events. 

But the decision of this question, whatever it may be, can 
not recover the wager which the South gallantly staked and 



coNcr.usiox. 645 

irretrievably lost. Time will show, however, the amount of 
truth in the prophecy of Jefferson Davis, made in reply to the 
remark that the cause of the Confederacy was lost : "It ap- 
pears so. But the principle for which %oe contended is bound 
to re-assert itself, though it may be at another time and in an- 
other form." 



